Kindred Souls
by Demeterr
Summary: There are people who seem nothing alike. Yet there is an unstoppable, deep friendship that blooms between them. This is the story of two such people. ::Hinata.centric:: ::Completed::


**Kindred Souls -** For some people, their souls have similar qualities. No matter how different their personality may be, their soul is similar and that is what makes their friendship strong but deeper down, little separates them. Those people are known as the ones with Kindred Souls.

* * *

Kindred Souls

* * *

Hinata slide open the door, pausing to give a polite bow to the patient.

No response.

However her mind didn't register that fact as she stepped forward to take the clipboard at the foot of the bed. Skimming through it, her mind found itself back at the conversation that occurred a couple hours ago.

* * *

-Flashback-

Sakura's jaw dropped, literally. "He's back?" she exclaimed, shock evident in her green eyes.

The Godaime, Tsunade, gave a nod.

"Is that why you called me in? Do you require me to check up on him?" Sakura asked, excitement rising in her voice.

"Actually Sakura, I called you up because some of the doctors require the assistance of a medic-nin later. I merely thought that you would be pleased to know that he is back." Tsunade replied.

Sakura's face fell, disappointing coming over her face. "Oh okay. Let's go then Hinata," she said in a sad tone.

"A-ah yes Sakura-san," Hinata stammered in reply.

Before they could make their exit, Tsunade raised her hand up elegantly to pause them. "Hina-chan, the hospital does not require your assistance yet, they can make do with Sakura. Instead I wish for you to examine him later"

"What?" came Sakura's startled reply. Hastily adding, "Shouldn't I examine him? Seeing as I am more experienced that Hinata-san with medical jutsus." she protested sharply.

Tsunade had the decency to look apologetic, "Sorry Sakura, I am aware that you are further ahead with medic-nin training but it would be best that one with the Byakugan observe the patient," she explained.

"But-" Sakura protested, her voice rising to a whiny tone.

"No buts," Tsunade said sharply, her patience used up for the day, "Now leave me be," she ordered, gesturing with her hand for them to leave.

As the two made their departure, the Godaime rested her head on a pile of sheets that needed processing. "Damn, I need a drink," she complained.

* * *

"It isn't fair!" Haruno Sakura exclaimed for the fifth time.

Hyuga Hinata nodded politely in response, moving her food aimlessly around with her fork. However Yamanaka Ino was not content to stay silent.

"Oy forehead girl. We get the point already. So what if the Godaime chose Hinata instead of you?" she declared loudly, taking no consideration for the other people who were trying to eat.

"Shut up Ino-pig," Sakura retorted.

"The Godaime probably chose Hinata-chan because she is better that you," Ino said smugly.

Sakura took the bait. "As if. I am far more advanced that Hinata," she tilted her head to think for a moment before hastily adding, "No offence Hinata."

"That's alright," Hinata said shyly, lowering her head.

"Hmph," Ino said grumpily.

"I am sure that the G-godaime only chose because of my Byakugan. If it had anything to do with healing or anything, she would have chosen you," Hinata added.

"I suppose so. Since I do have perfect chakra control and I have been studying medical jutsus longer than you," Sakura agreed.

Hinata nodded in reply. That isn't true. I created my medicines and healing balms long before you even seen what a healing jutsu looked like, she thought to herself.

TenTen interrupted, "Now, that isn't true. Neji-san told me that Hinata made her own healing balms since before she was a chuunin," she pointed out.

Sakura huffed in anger, green eyes narrowing into angry slits, whilst TenTen sweatdropped and hastily departed mumbling something about training.

"I don't see why you are so concerned about the fact that Hinata has to check up on that betrayer," Ino said casually.

Sakura turned to Ino in anger, "You can't talk. You like him too," she accused.

"Correction. I used to like him. But I was a fool back then," Ino corrected. "Honestly, I don't know what you see in that cold hearted betrayer," she added languidly.

Sakura stood up, slamming her hands onto the table, which cracked due to the fact of Sakura triggering her superhuman strength. She flicked her shoulder length pink hair over her shoulder to emphasise the glare of her emerald eyes. "Shut up Ino." she said coldly.

"Ah Sakura," Hinata hesitantly called out, a faint blush hastily rising to a face as Sakura glared at her.

"What," Sakura demanded. After a moment of silence she continued on, "Exactly, now I have to go assist the doctors," she said coldly, making her way off.

Ino called out after Sakura, "Don't tell me that you still believe that you can be the one to find the cold ice of a heart that the betrayer has," she sneered coldly.

"Ino," Hinata protested.

"Sorry Hinata, but somebody had to bring forehead girl back to the cold reality and away from the stupid illusions that she still believes in," Ino said apologetically, forcing a small smile as she rose to depart.

Hinata remained sitting alone for a moment before standing up, pushing her chair back in before making her way to her appointed room.

-End Flashback-

* * *

And that was pretty much how she ended up here. Hinata replaced the clipboard to look at her stoic patient.

"Ah Uchiha-san, Tsunade-sama requested that I c-check up on you," Hinata started, words faltering slightly as Sasuke glared at her.

"You are the one who has a crush on that dobe," he suddenly accused.

"N-no," Hinata replied suddenly, a blush coming across her face.

"No? I faintly recall that you would redden whenever you watched him and stammer insanely if he spoke to you. Oh wait, you stammer all the time," Sasuke said, disbelief dripping from his voice.

"I used to have a crush on N-naruto-san, but that was five years ago," she answered shyly. "It was only admiration," she added.

"Hn," was his one syllable reply.

Now that the awkward moment had come and passed, Hinata recalled the reason she had come here in the first place. Pale, slim hands moved swiftly to form several hand seals. Byakugan! she thought to herself, as her bloodline limit activated.

Her vision turned black and white as she focused on the form on Uchiha-san, taking note of his chakra circulatory system, noting how his chakra seemed less abundant around his shoulder.

"How badly does the ... seal affect you," Hinata asked, the slight veins around her eyes thickening as her pupiless eyes focused on the cursed seal.

"It is bothersome but does not drain as much chakra as it used to," Sasuke replied nonchalantly.

"I believe that since you have renounced Orochimaru, your body is beginning to reject the seal. I believe that in time, the seal will simply will become dormant as it did with Mitarashi Anko but however I cannot be sure of that," Hinata continued on.

After noting that nothing else appeared to be different and out of place, the veins around her eyes disappeared as she deactivated her bloodline limit.

"Why?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"W-well your seal could be different than A-anko-san," Hinata stammered nervously.

"Must you stammer? You were speaking just fine before." Sasuke demanded. After hearing Hinata start to mumble an answer, he held out a hand to stop her.

"Never mind that, I wasn't talking about the cursed seal. I was talking about why you admired Naruto," Sasuke continued.

"E-eh?" Hinata asked startled, her lips moving soundlessly to repeat what he had just said. "Oh," she suddenly remarked, cheeks suddenly being tainted with red.

"I suppose it is because Naruto-san has the tendency to loudly exclaim his feelings and tries to be cheerful no matter what the situation is. I also suppose another factor would be that my family has the tendency to remain silent and that it is a weakness to show one's feelings." Hinata finally said.

"Was your family the reason that you were never interested in me?" Sasuke suddenly asked.

At this, the already red Hinata turned several shades darker, giving her the look of someone who seems to have a very high fever.

Sasuke glared at her, "Don't even think that I like you or anything. I am merely curious," he stated.

"Ah y-yea," Hinata nervously agreed before answering his question. "I suppose that was the reason that I never li-liked you. Back then you reminded me of Neji-niisan. But I also did not wish to trouble you seeing as a majority of the females in the class already had their eyes set upon you, and I didn't know you that well." she remarked truthfully.

His dark eyes fixated on her, making her hastily drop her gaze. "You didn't know me. Few people do. But I would like to know. How much do you know about me?" he questioned.

Hinata was very much tempted to bolt out of the room but several factors stopped her from doing so. One; it was that she was brought up to be polite and it was also in her nature. Two; the door was closed and, between herself and the door there was the culprit of her worries. Three; this factor was a bit like the first, it was far too rude to merely exit without giving a valid reason.

But there were some factors that gave her reason to leave. One; she had finished observing Uchiha-san as Tsunade-sama had requested. Two; no doubt Uchiha-san was in a drugged state so no doubt he would not mind if she were to suddenly leave as no doubt he would not remember anything.

Unfortunately the cons outvoted the pros. Hinata sighed. "Many people see you as the Uchiha prodigy, the number one rookie in the academy, but however I merely Uchiha Sasuke. A shinobi of Konoha. Whilst you are strong physically, I find that you are weaker than some because you hide your emotions under a mask," Hinata said hesitantly.

The knots between the Uchiha prodigy tightened, making Hinata gasp as her hands flew up to cover her face. "I apologise. It was not within my r-rights to speak so bluntly," she apologised, cheeks turning red as she stammered several apologies.

The expression on the number one rookie's face softened slightly, "No, I asked of you to tell me and that is what you did. It was well within your rights," he said bluntly. "To tell the truth, you described me better than most would have," he added.

Seeing as he was finished speaking, Hinata saw no reason to remain any longer instead she further made a fool of herself. "Ah, I must be leaving Uchiha-san," she blurted out, hastily making her way to the door, fingers fumbling to pull the sliding door open.

"Thank you for the conversation," Sasuke said softly.

"Nice speaking to you Uchiha-san," Hinata bowed politely before stepping out and sliding the door shut behind her. The silhouette against the window of the door remained there for a moment before it disappeared.

* * *

Hinata knocked lightly on the door before entering, a small hesitant smile on her face as she looked at Sakura.

Haruno Sakura gave a weary smile, as she formed several hand seals and began to heal her patient. "Well?" she asked.

Hinata interlocked her hands, "He is fine, his body is beginning to reject the seal," she answered truthfully.

"Have you gone to Tsunade-sama about it?" Sakura questioned.

"Not yet," Hinata replied.

Sakura glanced over at Hinata, her green eyes filled with regret. "I want to apologise about before. I was rude and everything. It is just that Sasuke is back and I guess that brought up a lot of dormant feelings," she tried to explain.

Hinata smiled, "There is no need to explain Sakura-san. I understand, and I am sure that Ino-san and TenTen-san also understand. Everyone is allowed to over react," she said softly.

Her lips quirked into a grin, "Also, I am aware that you have perfect chakra control so you should always maintain perfect control," she said.

After a puzzled look from Sakura she added in, "I don't think the hospital has the funds to continue to buy new furniture to replace the ones that you vent your anger on."

Sakura's lips twitched as she attempted to look angry but that clearly failed as a grin cracked upon her face. "How about the Ino, TenTen, yourself and I go out after this to eat at Ichiraku?" Sakura suggested.

"No," Hinata stated bluntly.

"What?" Sakura asked, startled and hurt.

"I don't want to eat ramen, I am not entirely that fond of it," Hinata said seriously.

Sakura looked startled but gave a laugh. "We will go eat sushi then eh?" she asked.

"As long as there isn't any eel or crab inside of it," Hinata countered.

"Honestly, sometimes you speak without a stammer than all of a sudden you start stammering again," Sakura said amused.

"I get nervous sometimes," was Hinata's excuse.

* * *

Her pale hands encircled her cup of tea, taking in the warmth.

"So forehead girl, is Lee still interested in you?" Ino asked.

Sakura sighed and buried her head into her arms. "Don't even remind me," she complained.

"Ah c'mon Lee-san isn't that bad," TenTen protested.

Suddenly the majority of the girls were affected by a bad case of coughing.

"He means well," a soft voice interrupted.

"I know he does Hina, but he tends to take 'the Springtime of Youth' a bit too far, especially since it is winter," Sakura remarked, amusement dancing in her green eyes.

"Could be worse, at least he doesn't have an eternal rival and doesn't constantly challenge them," Ino added in.

"Could be a lot worse, especially when those two are together. Sometimes they get carried away. I mean Gai-sensei punches Lei, and they both end up crying bucket loads of water, then they hug in front of a sunset. And that makes even less sense when you are half asleep in the morning, wondering why on earth there is a sunset," TenTen countered.

"At least they talk, your cousin is so stoic Hinata," Sakura said, altering the subject slightly.

"Yea, sometimes I wonder if he is even normal. Does he have an obsession over stuffed toys, or certain types of food or anything?" TenTen asked suddenly.

Hinata suddenly had the compulsion to run away, however in order to do so, she would have to escape from the bench, not trip over and get away from three kunoichi. So she settled for burying her head into the safety of her arms.

"Aw Hina-chan," Ino protested, poking Hinata in her ribs.

Hinata gave a muffled shriek and leapt away from Ino, managing to collide her knees onto the table and send the tea in the cups sloshing everywhere. "S-sorry," she apologised straight away, the stammer returning to her voice.

"Personally I rather welcome the silence. It is a nice change from the boisterous Naruto," Sakura commented wistfully.

The three kuniochis simultaneous turned their gaze to Hinata who darkened under their gazes. "I d-on't fancy him anymore," she protested.

The three nodded sagely. "So what to gossip about now?" Ino asked lazily.

"So girls, who are your love interests at the moment?" TenTen drawled out. "Sakura you first," she continued.

A dreamy expression came across Sakura's face, but Ino chose to reply for her. "Obviously it is that Uchiha," she said disapprovingly.

"Better than Chouji," Sakura shot back, snapping out of her daze.

An angry expression flitted in Ino's blue eyes. "Take that back forehead girl!"

"Make me!" Sakura snapped

"Don't make me use my Shinranshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Disturbance Technique) on you," Ino threatened.

"Well before you do that, I will use Shosen Jutsu (Mystic Palm Technique)" Sakura countered the threat with her own.

Two kunais whipped forward, striking the table with a loud thunk. "Stop or I shall use Soshoryu (Twin Rising Dragons) on you two," TenTen decided to intervene.

"Hm but I suppose TenTen is worse, she has a liking for Neji. He is like a stone, no offence Hina-chan, TenTen," Sakura mentioned.

TenTen glared at Sakura, flicking her hand swiftly so that a shuriken flew towards the pink haired medic nin.

However this was intercepted by the genjutsu master, as she intercepted the shuriken with her own, so that the metals clangs together loudly before dropping. "So we still don't know who Hinata likes. Do you think it is still Naruto?" Ino interrupted, going back to teasing Hinata once again.

Hinata blinked her blank eyes several times. "What?" she asked, taking note of the fact that their eyes were fixed upon her.

"Aren't you going to threaten us with the Byakugan (White Eye/Evil Eye) for saying that?" Ino voiced.

"Or use your Juken (Gentle Fist) fighting style on us," Sakura added.

"Or maybe some Hakke technique," TenTen also added thoughtfully.

"She won't. But I might," a deep voice interrupted.

Ino, Sakura and Tenten all jumped slightly, whilst Hinata merely swung around.

"Neji-niisan," she greeted politely, the slight veins around her eyes fading.

"Hiashi-sama requested that I take your back to the Hyuga compound," Neji replied, cutting to the point straight away.

"Ah... okay," Hinata answered, moving her hand into a way.

"See ya Hina-chan," Sakura and Ino chorused.

"Later Hinata. You too Neji," TenTen called out.

Neji lifted one hand up in farewell as he continued walking.

* * *

"What were your friends and yourself gossiping about?" Neji asked sharply.

Hinata gave him an innocent look, batting her eyes, "What do you mean?"

"I know that you briefly mentioned some male shinobis," Neji stated.

"What are you getting at, niisan?" Hinata asked slyly, skipping ahead of him.

Neji gave a sigh, "If your friends ask for any dirt about me, don't tell them anything eh?" he finally said.

"Why? Afraid that it will ruin your reputation. Oh no, let us fear the Hyuga prodigy who can't even control his byakugan properly when he is drunk," Hinata mocked.

"I wish you would remain terrified of me and have a bad case of stammering when you speak to me. Honestly, eight years ago, you wouldn't even speak to me properly, and now you are teasing me," Neji said crossly. After an afterthought he added in, "Anyway, it was over a year ago, I didn't know that sake would affect me that badly."

"Of course," Hinata murmured disbelievingly.

As Hinata reached a t-shaped road, she automatically made a right turn, but was halted by Neji.

"That way," he said, pointing off to the other direction.

"Neji-niisan, we usually take a right turn, then take a left turn, before making another left turn to reach the Hyuga compound," Hinata said puzzled.

"I am aware of that, it is faster to go the other way. Only have to make a left turn here, continue for a while before making a right turn. It is a short distance," Neji replied.

"B-but there was no lights there," Hinata protested.

"Don't tell me you are afraid of the dark," Neji said amused.

"No. I just don't like going to the Uchiha residance. It is a ghost-town there," Hinata replied softly, as her cousin tugged her along.

"There is nothing to be afraid of," Neji scowled.

As a worried look came over Hinata's face, Neji paused to look at her, "I promised my father that I would protect you didn't I?" he demanded.

"Yea..." was the reply.

"Then stop worrying," Neji concluded.

Although his words did assure her, her fear reappeared as they reached the streets of where the Uchiha once thrived. Veins appeared around pale eyes, unconsciously activating to her fear.

Hinata let out a muffled cry of surpriseas Neji moved directly in front of her.

"There is no need for you to activate your byakugan in my neighbourhood," a proud voice declared.

"Neither is there a need for your Sharingan," Neji retorted, deactivating his byakugan.

Sasuke glared at the two Hyuga cousins, his eyes blending back to its normal dark colour. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I could say the same to you," Neji countered.

"I live here."

"Funny, I never recalled seeing you whenever I passed through."

"That was because I used to live in an apartment, however I have found that my apartment has been occupied for eight years. Thus I had to resort to this place. Personally I am surprised that the Godaime didn't move any brats to the Uchiha compound."

Neji gave a smirk as he continued along, Hinata more or less hidden behind him, her pale hand tightened around her cousin's sleeve.

"Ah Uchiha-san," Hinata suddenly said, moving slightly from behind Neji.

Sasuke remained where he was, making no move to go elsewhere.

"Could you see the Godaime tomorrow? I believe she would like to take a look at yoru seal," she requested, looking down at her hands rather than at the person she was speaking to.

"Hn. Fine," Sasuke grudgingly said.

"Come along Hinata," the heir to the Branch House beckoned.

Hinata gave a bow before hastily running to catch up with her cousin.

"Well bye," she called out, looking back.

"Farewell," Sasuke finally said softly, by the time Hinata had reached her cousin and out of earshot.

* * *

Pale hands clasped neatly together, the very image of politeness as she stood in front of the Fifth Hokage.

"You are saying that his body is slowly rejecting the cursed seal?" Tsunade repeated.

Naruto gave an exasperation sigh, "Tsunade-baachan, I think you are getting too old for this job. You won't get anywhere if you are deaf, maybe you should just retire," the boisterious Naruto exclaimed.

Fire suddenly in the Legendary Sucker's brown eyes, as well as around her. "Baka, you can become Hokage when you are older," Tsuande declared angrily, slamming her fist into the table.

Naruto gulped, blue eyes fixated upon the angry woman.

Shizune entered the room, "Tsunade-sama," she began, before taking note of the situation.

As the fire around the Godaime flared stronger, it was more than enough to send Shizune hastily departing. "Naruto-baka, if you don't stop calling me an old lady, I swear I will kick you out of here. You are more than aware that you have no obligation to be here," Tsunade threatened.

"Ah Tsunade, you know that nothing ever remains in that fool's head," Jiraiya spoke up.

A puzzled look came and passed over Hinata's face. Where did he come from?

"Ah Ero-sennin stop bothering Baa-chan," Naruto declared loudly, oblivious to the anger positively radiating out of the two Sannins.

A moment later that was a high pitched sound, shards of glass flying everyone, the absence of Naruto and two very happy Sannins.

"Ano..." was all that Hinata was able to voice.

Sakura chose that moment to barge in. "Um, am I interrupting?" she asked puzzled, green eyes taking note of the broken window, the evil look in the Sannin's faces and the fact that Jiraiya had his foot raised and Tsunade still had her fist out.

After investigating the window, everything slide into place. Well the fact that Naruto was eagle spread upon the ground, eyes swirling, a footprint and a dent upon his face.

That pretty much explained everything.

"Isn't Sasuke-kun here yet?" Sakura asked suddenly.

Amazing how Sakura could turn from her profession medic-nin status to her fan-girl status.

If Hinata was anyone else, she would have slammed her hand into her forehead. However for Hyuga, that was not an option.

Tsunade pursed her lips, "Hinata, you did tell him to meet with me didn't you?" she asked sceptically.

Hinata nodded in reply. "I-if you want to me, I c-can look for him with my byakugan," Hinata shyly offered.

A look of consideration came across Tsunade's face. "I don't think it is neccessary," she finally said.

Before Sakura could question why, the door opened.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed delighted.

His dark eyes turned upon her before he gave a nod of acknowledgement before he plunged his hands into his pockets and stood by the wall.

A look of disappointment crossed Sakura's face as her eyes following Sasuke's movement before reluctantly drifting back to her sensei.

"Uchiha Sasuke. Glad that you could make it on time," Tsunade remarked rather sarcastically.

A nod was the only reply.

"Hinata-chan told me that the seal that Orochimaru gave you, has began to weaken and its effects on you are not as great," Tsunade stated.

"I suppose so. Technically you should be telling me about the seal, not the other way around," Sasuke cooly replied.

Hinata glanced at Sakura, not at all surprised that there was a look of admiration shining in her eyes. Heck, it has been eight years since she has seen Uchiha-san, and even though he hasn't even said a word to her, she looks ready to swoon.

"I would be watching your mouth if I were you," Tsunade threatened.

Sasuke looked at her disdainfully, "Out of curiosity, did you bring me here to state what I already know and to make threats?" he asked coldly.

Tsunade leapt forward, only to be restrained by Jiraiya seizing her arm. "Let go of me," she ordered, fist slamming into Jiraiya, sending him flying to sharp descend down to land beside Naruto.

"I am going to get a drink. You can explain Hinata. Sakura you can either learn some jutsus from Shizune, go help at the hospital or go do something else," Tsunade concluded, almost tripping over Ton-Ton as she left the room.

Sakura gave a shy smile at Sasuke. "See you later Sasuke, eh?" she said as she left the room.

Silence.

Hinata opened her mouth to say something but immediately closed it, pale lips pressing tightly together as Sasuke turned to her.

"Well?" he questioned, well more like demanded.

Hinata eyed the broken window, calculating the chances of escaping.

"Well?" Sasuke repeated, a little more insistant this time.

Hinata broke out of her daze, "Ah, Tsunade-sama believed it would be best for me to seal the tenketsu (pressure points) around the seal. It will probably affect your chakra though," Hinata finally said.

"Fine."

"Although I think it is best that I observe your seal again," she added.

"Fine."

"Ano... I don't mean to sound rude, b-but unless you want me to burn holes in y-your shirt...," at this Hinata trailed off, unable to make any whole words.

A frown marred Sasuke's face as he looked towards her. "I don't care what happens to the shirt, it doesn't belong to me anyway," he remarked.

Her eyebrows came together as her gaze dropped to the back of the shirt, noting the absence of the Uchiha symbol. "Could you sit?" she asked, hands already coming together to activate her bloodline limit. Moving to stand beside him, her vision focused upon his shoulder.

The cursed seal. Without her byakugan, the cursed seal would only appear to be like a sharingan tattoo, but now that she had seen it in finer detail, it was nothing so innocent. The chakra, it was dark, rooting onto his chakra system, leeching his chakra.

It was nothing like the Infuin: Kai (Shadow Seal: Release) that Tsunade had. This seal, it drained the chakra, and only gave back a small amount when activated. A dark creation.

At this angle, Hinata could see the difference between Anko and Sasuke's cursed seal. Anko's one was weaker and was not as entwined around the bodies chakra system.

Gathering chakra into her fingertips, she began to seal off the chakra points around the seal, cutting off the access of chakra to it. At a hiss from Sasuke, she murmured an apology before moving to seal the next chakra hole.

"That should be it," she finally said, after observing that the chakra had been cut off from the seal, yet the seal still remained afflamed with dark chakra. Her hand drifting to his collar, to where the cursed seal was exposed. Her finger lightly traced the seal placed around the cursed seal, taking note of the wearing away of it. The jutsu would have to be done again.

Drawing her fingers back, she paused as the cursed seal seemed to grow brighter. "Odd," she murmured.

Impossible, chakra was cut off from it, so it could not drain chakra from Uchiha-san, so where was it getting it from.

Her fingertips brushed against the surface of the seal, before she reeled back, as if burnt. "Impossible."

Pale hands seized her roughly by the shoulders. "What is it?" Sasuke demanded.

"The seal..." she murmured.

"What?" demanded Sasuke.

Her gaze lifted, before being halted in place by a pair of red eyes. The sharingan. No doubt it triggered subconsciously. Her hands came up to shove him away, wincing slightly as her hand almost came into contact wth his shoulder.

"Sorry but I must speak to Tsunade-sama first," she said politely, departing from the room.

* * *

Hinata leaned against the doorway, watching Tsunade finish healing off a patient. A moment later Tsunade came out, wiping her hands on her pants.

"Are you here to rescue me?" the Hokage asked jokingly.

The look of worry was more than enough to make the Hokage sober up. "What is it?" she asked.

"The seal. It may not be accessing Uchiha-san's chakra, but it is still getting a source of chakra. I-it... It was draining my chakra, I didn't realise at first since I was using chakra to seal his tenkutsu but afterwards I realised it was odd that I was feeling this tapped," Hinata explained.

"Thank you for telling me Hina-chan. Why don't you go home and rest, you must be tapped of your chakra," Tsunade suggested kindly.

Hinata shook her head, "Shouldn't I help you? Don't you need me to observe the seal again and note the changes down so we can possibly find a solution to this problem?" she demanded.

"Hinata, we can worry about this another day. The cursed seal is not going to run off. We will continue worrying about the seal another day, when you have recovered your chakra," Tsunade interrupted.

Hinata opened her mouth to protest, but it closed as she slumped forward, being caught by Tsunade who placed her on a nearby chair.

"Thanks," Tsunade thanked.

Sasuke did not appear to pleased. "The seal. There is no way to get rid of it is there?" he asked emotionlessly.

Tsunade frowned, "Sasuke, there is no need to jump to conclusions. We have only spent two days observing the seal, so we don't know what will happen yet."

"Makes me feel so much better that you are working ever so hard on it," Sasuke remarked bitterly.

"Sasuke-san, there is no need for you to speak in that tone. We are trying our best to remove the seal but we need to know the details about it first. However in order for the observations to be more precise, we need the aid of the Hyuga's byakugan but however the only Hyuga that is a medic nin is Hinata-chan," Tsunade said sternly.

"Oh and she is doing a really good job isn't she,"Sasuke said sarcastically.

"She is doing a better job than any other medic-nin including myself could do," Tsunade defended.

"I don't know why you even defend a weakling like her. People who are not strong will not survive in this world, I see no reason for you to give her false hope. It is only because of her bloodline limit, that she has an unfair advantage, and even so her Byakugan is weak," Sasuke sneered.

"You are a cold bastard. Mind you, if it wasn't for Naruto and Sakura I would not even bother trying to find a way to remove your curse seal," Tsunade declared angrily.

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, "Like I care. You don't even seem to be doing a good job of it," he mocked, calmly moving his hand to block a strike. His facial expressions remained the same, showing no sign of any pain that he should be feeling.

Triggering his sharingan, he glared at the Hokage before calmly walking way, not even glancing back.

"God he is a cold bastard," Tsunade sighed, once he was out of earshot.

"Tsunade-sama, as much as I respect you, you should not insult Sasuke-kun. It isn't his fault. I am sure he is merely tempermental because of the trouble the cursed seal has given him," Sakura whined.

Tsunade gave a disapproving look, "Awaken Hinata, and Sakura, don't bother healing Sasuke. If he can endure with the pain of the cursed seal, he can put up with a badly damaged hand," Tsunade ordered, before walking away.

Sakura sighed, one hand resting on her leg as she bent over to awaken Hinata with a quick jutsu.

Her eyelashes fluttered before opening, almost yelping as she saw a pair of green eyes looking at her. "Eh... where is Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked, slightly puzzled.

"You have been knocked out for a few minutes," Sakura explained.

"Eh?"

"Sasuke-kun knocked you out so he could speak to Tsunade. However she angered him so he left. Geez I wish Tsunade-sama could be more polite to Sasuke-kun," Sakura sighed wistfully, switching back to her fangirl status.

"Come on, let's go to meet the girls for training. If your chakra is really low, I can transfer some of mine to you," Sakura said, dragging Hinata along with her.

* * *

Hinata was in a half lying, half sitting position as she observed Ino and Sakura spar.

"Who do you think will win?" TenTen asked, struggling into a sitting position.

"If Sakura-san gets within close distance, she will be able to user her superhuman strength and other offensive medical jutsus to her advantage but if she is that close, Ino-san could easily activate her genjutsu and Sakura might not have the time to fight it off," Hinata replied.

With her byakugan activated, she watched Ino form the seals for a genjutsu whilst Sakura moved her hands into the tiger seal to gather chakra before yelling out "Kai (Release)"

"Hm I forgot that Sakura could do that," TenTen remarked.

"Didn't Sakura use that technique during the Konoha invasion during our first chuunin exam?" Hinata asked.

TenTen looked slightly embarassed, "Yea, she was one of the few gennin who were able to dispell the sleeping jutsu," TenTen admitted.

"Oh did you fall asleep?" Hinata asked mockingly.

"What about you?" TenTen shot back, cheeks slightly red.

"I was already unconscious due to the fact that my chakra system was still damaged during then," Hinata remarked.

"Oh yea sure, how come I don't see you coughing up blood and collapsing now?" TenTen asked mockingly.

Hinata shrugged her shoulders, "Kiba-san told me that one of the Anbu was a medic and he healed me," Hinata responded.

TenTen frowned, "A medic in the Anbu. I don't think I have ever heard of that. Anbu has no need for a medic-nin, or at least that is what Neji-kun told me."

"Neji-KUN?"Hinata asked.

A flush crossed over TenTen's face. "Don't you start. Those two idiots already mocked me enough?"

"Which two idiots?" Ino asked innocently, dropping onto the grass.

"Who won?" Hinata interrupted, deciding to spare TenTen some embarassment.

"Me!" exclaimed both Ino and Sakura.

"Shut up Ino-pig, I won," Sakura hissed angrily.

"Your forehead must be so large that it is clouding your judgement because I won," Ino retorted.

"Who cares," TenTen interrupted.

"Do you guys want to come to the all-you-can-eat-barbeque later?" Ino asked. "At least with you around it will be more interesting, or else I will simply be scolding Shikamaru for being so lazy and Chouji was gulping down his food."

"Or do you want us to drag Shikamaru and Asuma-sensei away so that you can be alone with Chouji?" Sakura asked teasingly.

Ino flushed, "Stop bothering me forehead-girl. Chouji and I aren't that deep into our relationship. We don't want to make a big deal of it incase something happens. You know how we ninjas are."

TenTen sighed, "Neji is more fussy. He doesn't like us to be public with our relationship. Even with our friendship. In missions he doesn't like Lee and I to call his name with any honorifics."

"It is merely to protect you, and Lee," Hinata said softly.

"I know." TenTen sighed.

"I saw Sasuke-kun today. I feel so sorry for him, he is too bothered by his cursed seal to even notice me properly," Sakura sighed.

The three other girls exchanged looks of partially hidden disgust.

"He doesn't even care about you," TenTen murmured.

"That isn't true," Sakura defended.

Ino frowned, "Why do you keep holding onto the stupid infatuation?"

"I love him," Sakura declared.

"When I was younger, I thought that I loved Naruto-san. But as I grew younger, I didn't cling into my hopes but instead to reality. He didn't care about me anymore than a friend. When I realized that, I realized that I never loved him. It was only because I admired him. Admiration not love." Hinata admitted.

Sakura got up angrily, "Just because you know that Naruto wouldn't ever fall in love with you doesn't mean your stupid story will convince me of the feelings I know that I have. I know that Sasuke will fall in love with me. No matter how long it takes, I am willing to wait. He will realize I am the right one for him."

Hinata shrunk back slightly but her eyes were defiant. "You built your life around the fact that you loved Sasuke. How long before he rejects you? Before he breaks down your heart and leaves it in shattered pieces. You won't heal from that easily I tell you that. It will be hella' lot harder to be rejected after you sacrificed everything for him." Hinata paused to take a ragged breath.

"How much are you willing to sacrifice for him? For a person who doesn't even care about you. You have Naruto and Lee who care about you, but you would not even acknowledge them. It was only until they risked their lives to save you that you noticed them. But afterwards you still saw them as a hinderance," Hinata said coldly.

Sakura looked furious, "What about you? If you didn't have you Byakugan you wouldn't even be a proper medic nin. Even so the Hyuga blood is weak in you. Even your little sister surpasses you. In fact I am surprised that you were even able to survive for a fair amount of time against your cousin in the Chuunin exams. I am surprised that you even survived from your injuries. You are weak because you were not able to defend yourself, yet you still fought because Naruto was cheering for may think that you are better than me but we are not that much different." Sakura said bitterly.

Before Ino or TenTen could say anything, Sakura added in. "And you know what, even if Sasuke rejects me, I still have Naruto. And here is a reality check. I can have him anyway, but you can never have them. That was why you gave up," she sneered.

"You have gone too far Sakura," Ino said coldly.

"You should have expected it to come. You were the ones who teased me about the fact that I still love Sasuke-kun," Sakura retorted.

"Go ahead then Sakura. Walk away now. Don't expect to come back and for us to accept you. Go sacrifice everything you have for Sasuke-kun like you did before. Remember in the academy, in our gennin days. You had no friends to begin with, I gave you my friendship but you were the one to give it away. You pushed all your friends away, and since Sasuke didn't care about you, you dedicated yourself to your studies. Is this to happen again, Haruno Sakura?" Ino demanded.

Sakura merely walked away.

* * *

"You aren't even scolding us Ino," Chouji managed to say before stuffing his mouth with food again.

Ino merely, chewed slowly on her beef, exchanging a regretful glance with TenTen and Ino.

"She made her choice," Hinata concluding, clasping her hands together.

* * *

Hinata bit her lip. "Do you think what we said yesterday was a bit harsh?" she asked guiltily.

TenTen shrugged her shoulders, "I don't want Sakura to make the same mistake."

"None of us do." TenTen added.

"Where do you suppose she is?" Hinata asked.

"I have no idea." TenTen said truthfully.

Hinata fidgeting with her hands before speaking, "Let's go find Ino, then I want to make sure that Sakura is all right," she finally said.

"Alright," TenTen agreed.

* * *

"Ino!" TenTen called out.

"What?" Ino demanded.

The other members of the Ino-Shika-Cho glanced at them.

"I'm worried about Sakura," Hinata admitted.

"You shouldn't be too soft," Ino said gruffly.

Without warning, the three kunoichis disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Chouji glanced over at Shikamaru, "What was that about? Ino seems to disagree yet she still is going with them,"

"Girl's business. Too troublesome," he replied.

"No point training now then," Chouji remarked cheerfully.

* * *

Three shadows descended upon the marketplace.

Hinata glanced around, veins visible around her eyes. "She isn't here."

"Let's check the training grounds," Ino concluded before the three kunoichis disappeared in a blur of colour.

* * *

Sakura winced as a green sphere appeared in her hand as she healed her multiple injuries. "Damn, maybe I should have thought about my decision before I blurted it out. They are going to hate me," she said with regret.

"Now, now, you shouldn't just to conclusions," a feminine voice drawled.

"Just because you act like a total bitch and don't even think about your decision, doesn't mean we are like that," another voice added.

Surprise clouded Sakura's already tear filled eyes. "What? Have you come hear to gloat? To say that you were right and that you knew that I would feel guilty," Sakura shot bitterly.

"Is that what you really want us to do?" Hinata asked softly.

Sakura rose to her feet, wiping her hands with the back of her hand, "No," she said resigned.

"Exactly," Ino smugly exclaimed, crossing over to drag Sakura across to them.

* * *

Ino gave a sigh, "Now tell me, why did we take her back again? It has only been one day and she has acted like nothing ever happened, in fact she seems to think that she has forgiven us and not the other way around."

"I don't think she could handle what happened, so to protect herself, she made herself try to forget about those memories," Hinata replied.

"Anyway it would be too hard to be enemies with her. We see her too often so that would just leave the awkward silences. And I hate those," TenTen added.

"I suppose so," Ino said reluctantly.

"Sakura is going to be in another fit later," Hinata spoke up.

"Why is that?" Ino asked curiously.

"I have to observe Uchiha-san later." Hinata answered.

"Didn't this happen before?" TenTen questioned.

Hinata sighed and nodded. "She got Tsunade pretty angry since she kept complaining. Tsunade-sama would have probably vented her anger out on Sakura if it hadn't been for Jiraiya-sama for turning up and accidentally insulting Hokage-sama."

"Tsunade-sama can so kick Jiraiya's ass," TenTen cheered, changing the subject

Ino observed TenTen, one of her eyes twitching, "You really want to be a legendary kunoichi like her don't you?" she asked suspiciously, although she was to be off the topic of Sakura.

TenTen nodded, "Of course, most of the shinobis think that they are so great and that they are stronger than us kunoichis. I mean you hear of all these famous shinobis but there are so few kunoichis. I mean four of Hokages are male. Two of the legendary sannins are male. Most of the gennin team consists of two males and one female. And there are plenty of other famous shinobis like White Fang, Copy-nin Kakashi..." TenTen trailed off in her speech.

"Also most of the jounin are males, and most of the Anbu are male," Ino added in absently.

"Yea!" TenTen agreed.

"-cough-Gai-sensei-wanna-be-cough-" Ino said through several coughs.

TenTen glared, "I heard that Ino... PIG, and I do not act like Gai-sensei, no way do I have an obsessive-compulsive-disorder like Lee and Gai does," she retorted.

"Sure. Well at least I have a last name on my official records," Ino remarked.

TenTen scowled, "Plenty of ninjas don't have a last name. The Legendary Sannins. The Hokages. Um Temari and her siblings, and many others," she defended.

"Well I better get back to the hospital, you two should get back to training," Hinata concluded, rising from her seat.

* * *

"I want you to be careful about not letting the seal drain too much of your chakra eh Hinata," Tsunade warned.

"Of course Hokage-sama," Hinata responded politely.

Sakura glanced over at Tsunade, "Maybe I should supervise incase Hinata-chan uses too much of her chakra and may need me to transfer some of mine to her," Sakura suggested hopefully.

"Hina-chan should be able to take care of herself," Tsunade responded.

Sakura's face fell.

"Although if you really wish to aid, I suppose you can," Tsunade continued.

Sakura grinned, thanking Tsunade several times before leaving with Hinata.

Jiraiya appeared through the still broken window. "Are you sure about that, from what I heard Sakura is still has that crush from childhood. She might act personally, and..." he trailed off at a threatening look from Tsunade.

"Are you questioning my orders. For your information, I am Hokage while you are not, so my decision should be final. And if you are here to question anything else I did, I will personally send you through that window again," Tsunade threatened.

Jiraiya fluttered his eyes, "Nice to know that I am so loved, but sorry I have too many girls who are seeking me out. However, call me if you ever wish to pose for one of my books," he mocked, disappearing as Tsunade's fist came through the window.

"Pervert!" Tsunade shouted.

In his training field, Naruto glanced up after hearing the shout, "Stupid ero-sennin must be bothering baa-chan again," he muttered, hand reaching up to his face as he remembered the injuries he sustained several days ago. Sure it healed but it killed like hell back then.

* * *

Hinata settled herself onto the uncomfortable hospital chair, eyes fixed upon Sakura whom was pacing around impatiently.

"Relax Sakura," Hinata attempted to coax.

Sakura turned to face Hinata, "Does my hair look nice? Is my lip gloss too noticeable?" she asked.

Not many people have lips that red even during the winter, Hinata thought to herself, "Your hair looks fine," she reassured. Well I didn't lie.

"What about my lip gloss?" Sakura demanded, not missing a beat.

Hinata was saved from answering as Uchiha Sasuke entered.

"Sakura..." he said warily, his eyes widening slightly upon seeing her.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura exclaimed.

Hinata winced as Sakura's voice went an octave higher. At this rate, there is no point in having me around, she thought to herself seeing as Sakura seemed to be doing all the work.

Hinata practically sweat dropped as Sakura asked Sasuke to remove his shirt.

"Why?" Sasuke asked warily.

"I need to see your seal," Sakura replied, as professionally as she could, although nothing could hide the fact that a blush was spreading across her face.

She could have a tomato as her face but the blush would still be visible. Hinata bit back a smile as that thought ran through her mind, however her face fell as she remembered the numerous occasions she turned redder than a beetroot.

"Just pull back my collar so you can see the cursed seal," Sasuke said as calmly as he could.

Sakura let out the breath she was holding and proceeding to do so. Her hand flared blue as she experimentally tapped the seal.

"Ah Sakura, be careful, the seal may be draining our chakra," Hinata warned, as she recalled what happened the other day.

"Well the seal doesn't seem to be drawing my chakra," Sakura responded, as she stepped away from Sasuke.

"Maybe it was because the other day I cut off the supply of chakra for Uchiha-san, thus it had to draw on my own," Hinata suggested, writing down her opinion on the clipboard, before heavily underlining it and placing a large question mark next to it.

"So I suppose we should go tell Tsunade-sama then?" Sakura asked hesitantly before adding, "Sorry for wasting your time Sasuke-kun," she added in sweetly.

Sakura made a move to tidy up the room but Hinata stopped her, "You can bring the report to Hokage-sama, and I'll clean up alright?" she offered.

Sakura lingered for a moment before she agreed, taking the clipboard off Hinata and departing from the room. After a moment Hinata rose from her seat and replace her chair back into the corner.

She glanced up, a frown marring her face, "You can leave now Uchiha-san," she said, when Sasuke made no move to leave.

"Would it be possible for you to seal the tenkutsu around the cursed seal?" he asked gruffly.

Hinata looked surprised but gave a nod, "I suppose so, but why?" she questioned, moving to stand behind Sasuke as he sat back down again.

He tensed slightly as her chakra burnt him, "Less troublesome to use jutsus," he responded as Hinata began to close the rest of his tenkutsus that were in series to the cursed seal.

* * *

"I thought you weren't working at the hospital today," Hyuga Neji accused suspiciously.

Hinata gave a sigh, Now Neji-niisan is switching to what TenTen calls the 'overly protective, brotherly status'.

"I didn't work at the hospital Neji-niisan, however I had to seal Uchiha-san's tenkutsus," she replied.

"That shouldn't take that much chakra," Neji shot back straight away.

"A-alright, I healed some people alright?" Hinata lied, well sort of, she only healed one patient and that was only a minor injury.

However that answer seemed to satisfy Neji. "Alright," he grudgingly agreed.

"I am going on a mission tomorrow," Neji added.

"Is TenTen-san and Lee-san to be going with you?" Hinata responded in reply.

"Yea," Neji answered.

"By the way, TenTen's favourite food is Chinese food and sesame dumplings," Hinata added, slightly teasingly.

Neji scowled, "And why would I care?" he demanded gruffly.

"Oh, then Lee-san likes medium-spicy curry and curry udon," Hinata replied innocently.

"Hinata," Neji said warningly.

"Yes?" she asked meekly.

"You are in my field of divination," Neji responded in a serious tone, moving into his favourite stance.

Hinata batted a hand in his direction, "Let's go back to the compound already," she replied dismissingly, walking ahead.

* * *

Her eyelids fluttered before they opened, a surprised sound emitting from her mouth in surprise.

In response Akamaru yapped at her before returning to his master.

"Finally, you are awake," Inuzuka Kiba exclaimed loudly.

"Sorry," Hinata automatically responded.

"Kiba, if you have time to talk, you can keep training," a female voice ordered sternly.

"Aw Kurenai-sensei," Kiba began to whine.

His sensei gave him a stern look, red eyes managing to silence him for a moment.

"Why don't you ever tell Shino to train," Kiba complained.

His companion glanced towards his direction, his face obscured at his glasses, his high coat, his forehead protector as well as his hood, meaning that Kiba wasn't exactly sure what he was feeling.

"His destruction bugs don't need training," Kurenai responded.

"But what about Hinata," he added in a slightly apologetic note.

"She's fine. Her juken style doesn't require that much physical strength and she can't really practice her medical jutsus out here," Yuuhi Kurenai answered.

Kiba huffed out angrily, "Why don't you go to Asuma-sensei and stop bothering us," he complained.

A faint hint of colouring crossed across Kurenai's face. "Sarutobi Asuma and I are just friends," she shot back.

A smile graced Hinata's face.

"Well you should set an example and train as well," Kiba said smugly.

"I think you right, I suppose this would be a good time for me to text my new genjutsu. I haven't exactly mastered it but you won't mind if I try it on you now would you Kiba? I mean it might cause some mental damage but I am sure Hinata will be able to heal that," Kurenai paused for a moment, "No wait... I don't think she can, never mind I am sure the Hokage-sama can fit you into her busy schedule if you get hurt." Kurenai added.

Kiba shook his head, "I'll pass, I'll just train by myself," he tried to offer, hastily departing from the scene.

"I hear your cousin has left for a mission," Kurenai mentioned, attempting to start a conversation.

Hinata nodded, "Yea. Must be pretty important if they need three jounins," she replied.

"So are any of your friends thinking of becoming a sensei?" Kurenai questioned.

Hinata considered the question for a moment before shaking her head," Ino doesn't have the patience for them. Sakura is too busy with her medical course. TenTen might, although most of her time tends to be occupied with training so I don't think so."

"What about you?" asked Kurenai.

Hinata lowered her head, "Not yet. I suppose I should be concentrating on my career as a medic-nin and I don't think I could be a good teacher. I won't be able to exert enough force over them," she replied.

"What about your clan?" Kurenai softly asked.

Hinata's lips twisted slightly in an attempt of a smile, "They wouldn't approve. Even though the council is considering that Hanabi be the successor after my father passes on, until then I am still one of the heiress and my actions may either b-bring pride or shame to my clan. I-it is my duty. I was born into it. My destiny and I can't change that fact," she murmured.

I wish that I wasn't a Hyuga.

It is my fault that my uncle- that Hizashi-sama died. If I never had the byakugan, I would not be kidnapped.

If Hizashi-sama never died, Neji-niisan would have never hated me. I would not have lost so badly in the prelimary rounds in my first chuunin exam.

If I wasn't a Hyuga, I could just be like anyone else. But my eyes give me away for who I am. No matter how hard I seem to work, my clan never seems to acknowledge me.

No matter what I am weak.

I shall never be as strong as Neji-niisan, never as strong as Hanabi. The Hyuga blood runs weak in my veins. Everyone says so, my father did. Even though my sister and cousin, the Branch members do not say that I am weak, it is obvious that they think that.

Even when I was starting to become a medic-nin, my father did not care. He doesn't want a Hyuga that can heal, he wants one that can master the Juken fighting style and learn all of the main house's secret techniques.

He doesn't realize that any Hyuga could learn those techniques, Main or Branch. But how many Hyugas are medic-nins?

None.

Apart from me. I guess they find that it is too low to use our gifted eyes for the petty task of observing one's chakra system, to take in fine detail. Not to cause damage but observe the damage before using jutsus to heal.

They don't realize that that healing is harder than causing damage. Their byakugans do not see everything.

All they see is that it is too low for the Hyuga to heal. They are meant to cause damage. Our eyes are built for battle, not for healing. That is why my clan shall never acknowledge me.

Because of whom I am. Because of my traits. Because I wish to use our well-known and respected Byakugan for the task of medic-nin and not as a proper kunoichi.

Hinata bit her lip. Sometimes, I feel so pathetic.

* * *

Hinata thought darkly to herself, My friendship with Sakura was really strained, and Tsunade-sama wasn't making it any better.

She let out another sigh, How do I always end up getting in situations with this? Ever since Uchiha-san made his return, he is causing problems to arise with my friendship with Sakura.

To get back the beginning...

* * *

Flashback:

"A mission?" Sakura asked.

Tsunade nodded, "I only need to send one of you however."

"Who else to be going upon the mission?" Hinata asked, suspicion slowly rising.

"Me," Sasuke said as he entered the room.

Now why I am getting a vague feeling of deja vu? Oh yea I remember now, this situation is somewhat similar to what caused the rift between Sakura and myself.

"Sakura can go," Hinata offered immediately.

Tsunade pursed her lips tightly together and glanced over at Sakura who was beaming with excitement. "We have to consider which of the medic-nin would be more effective for this mission. Both of you are strong medic-nins..."

"Sakura had more control and experience over her jutsus," Hinata added.

"Both are efficient in close combat in their own way, so what do you think Sasuke-san?" Tsunade questioned.

He looked slightly surprised as he observed the medic nins, a scowl coming across his face, "I think it would be better if I went by myself, I don't need someone weak to slow me down. If you have to send me with someone, make them strong and reliable in battle."

"Your choices consist of these two medic-nins, pick one or else I shall send Naruto to go do the mission instead of you. I thought that because of your Sharingan, you might be more effective in this mission but..." Tsunade trailed off.

"Then let that dobe take the mission," Sasuke retorted.

"Hm fine, I suppose you don't want to investigate the reported sighting of missing-nin Uchiha Itachi," Tsunade said in a carefree tone.

That was more than enough to capture Sasuke's interest. "Fine, I will take the mission," he agreed.

"As you wish," Tsunade replied.

A frown came across Sasuke's face. "I'll take the Hyuga then," he finally said.

"What?" spluttered Sakura.

"The Hyuga is weaker but however she is able to seal tenkutsu." was Sasuke's reply.

"You wish for her to seal the tenkutsu around the cursed seal," Tsunade stated.

"Yes. But I still don't see the reason for taking a medic-nin along. Why can't Hyuga Neji come along, he is stronger and he can also seal tenkutsu," Sasuke said.

"Hyuga Neji is currently away on a mission," Tsunade replied.

"Fine, as long as she doesn't get in the way, I don't care," Sasuke scoffed, taking the scroll that contained the information about the mission before leaving.

"I am sorry Sakura," Hinata hastily apologized.

* * *

End Flashback:

"I said I am sorry Sakura," Hinata huffed up as she hastily sidestepped a punch.

"Shosen Jutsu (Mystic Palm Technique)" Sakura shouted as she attempted to sever the muscles in Hinata's arm.

"Hakke Kusho (Eight Trigrams Empty Palm)" Hinata hastily responded, counteracting the attack with her own, managing to disable the effects of Sakura's attack.

"It wasn't my decision to go on the mission Sakura," Hinata attempted to explain, as Sakura's hand attempted to touch the base of her brain stem. She is going to use Tsunade's jutsu, the Ranshinso (Important Body Points Disturbance).

Sakura's hand jerked back as chakra visibly appeared to block the blow.

"Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin)" Hinata murmured, as she spun around quickly, to knock Sakura back. Slowing to a halt, she glared at Sakura from where she stood in the slight crater.

"Are you done yet?" Hinata demanded, rather annoyed.

"Tsutenkyaku (Painful Sky Leg)" Sakura said in respond, leaping towards Hinata, her foot striking the ground and causing a much larger crater.

There was a puff of smoke as a log fell into the crater. "Kawarimi (Replacement)," Sakura murmured, her eyes scanning the area.

There was a snap of chakra as Hinata reappeared, "Hakke Rokujuyon Sho (Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms)," she said in a low voice, as she began to close of Sakura's tenkutsu.

Once done she leapt away "Still angry?" she asked, eyeing Sakura warily.

"It isn't fair," Sakura complained in a child-like manner.

"As I am aware, do you think I like this situation any more than you do?" Hinata replied.

Sakura shook her head slowly, "I suppose not," she answered.

"Well as fun as it is to spar, we best get back to the hospital, eh?" Hinata concluded.

Sakura grimaced, "One problem, I can't mould my chakra properly due to the fact that you sealed a fair amount of my tenkutsu."

Hinata looked slightly embarrassed, "Well you can still help around," she offered weakly.

* * *

There was a knock on her door. "Come in," Hinata responded, brushing her hands on her pants as she sat down.

Hanabi entered, pausing as she observed the room, "A mission?" her sister questioned.

"Well yea," Hinata admitted. Heck it would be pointless to attempt to lie, my pack is already half packed and the rest of my supplies are nearby.

"How long will you be gone?" Hanabi questioned.

Hinata shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe a day, maybe a month. I don't know," she admitted.

"I suppose you can't tell me anything about the mission," Hanabi murmured.

Hinata nodded, "You should know, you have taken A-ranked missions before. Most of the time it has to be classified," she explained softly.

"Be careful eh. Otou-san may not sure it, but he does care for you," Hanabi offered.

Hinata made a soft sound of disbelief, "You know that he doesn't care about me. He only cares about the Byakugan; last thing he would want is for an enemy to discover the secrets of it. I am only the unwanted child."

"That isn't true Onee-chan" Hanabi protested.

Hinata gave a small smile, "Take care of yourself whilst I am gone. You know where I keep my medicine supply. Feel free to use it," she said, changing the subject as she turned to continue packing away items into her bag.

"You better come back alive," Hanabi said firmly before leaving, sliding the door shut behind her.

Hinata let out a sigh, Hanabi and Neji. They were the only people in her family who cared about me. They were what made living the Hyuga compound bearable.

Her hand rose to touch the cold metal of her hita-ate, A kunoichi of Konoha. That was what I was, her clan was never the factor that helped her become a kunoichi, it was her friends, her sister, her cousin. Her special people...

Packing the rest of her supplies into her bag, she zipped it shut and rose to turn off the light before falling asleep on her futon.

* * *

As the sun began to rise, Hinata made her ways to the large gates of Konoha. Why couldn't it be Sakura who was on this mission instead of me? Personally I don't know how I am to survive with an ice cube of a teammate. Or even better, why couldn't this mission be with anyone else apart from him?

I just wish that Tsunade-sama didn't have to issue that mission to Uchiha-san. Last place I want to be is with Uchiha-san once he falls back into his kill-and-seek-revenge-for-clan-and-angst-and-I-conquer-all-for-I-am-god-like mode.

"You are late," Sasuke scowled.

Her step faltered for a moment before she regained her balance, "Ah I apologize."

Did I forget to mention the I-am-better-than-you attitude?

"What ever, let's go," he responded, turning towards the Konoha gates.

As Hinata made to follow, he paused to glare at her. "Best remove your hitai-ate, don't need to advertise what Hidden village you come from," he ordered.

Hinata jumped slightly, hands flying to the back of her neck to untie her forehead protector. "Ah hai," she said in response, taking note of the absence of his hitai-ate on his forehead. She replaced her forehead protector back into her backpack before trailing after Sasuke.

Even without my hitai-ate with the Konoha swirl on it, it is still obvious that we are from Konoha. He has the symbol of Uchiha on his black shirt, I have the symbol of Hyuga on the arm sleeve of my jacket.

A fan. A flame. What other clans have those symbols?

"Stop dawdling," Sasuke ordered roughly.

Hinata looked up and half ran to catch up with him. Once she almost reached in, she slowed down, so she was a couple paces behind him.

"I knew I should have taken Sakura. At least she doesn't walk so slow," he said gruffly.

Then why didn't you choose her! Hinata wanted to scream. Instead she had to suffice with keeping quiet.

* * *

"Are you sure that it is necessary for Uchiha Sasuke to be given that mission. Especially since it is about a sighting of his brother. Are you sure about this?" Jiraiya asked.

Tsunade sighed, "He was best suited for the mission. Don't worry, I sent a medic-nin with him," she added in reassuringly.

"The Hyuga heiress... but why not Sakura, she is more experienced," Jiraiya questioned.

"How did you find out that Sakura didn't make it?" Tsunade asked, slightly curious.

"Naruto told me, and apparently Sakura came back the other day unable to mould chakra properly,"Jiraiya replied.

"Hm, if Sakura went, she wouldn't be professionally about it, and no doubt she would let her emotions get in the way... But for her to not be able to mould her chakra properly, she must have gotten into a fight with Hinata," Tsunade said.

Jiraiya raised his eyebrows, "But why the Hyuga?"

"It was the choice of Sasuke, apparently he chose the Hyuga because she could seal the tenkutsu around his cursed seal," Tsunade explained.

"You better give the girl a pay rise, heck any ninja in the right mind would not like to go on a mission with a crazed, revenge seeking shinobi." Jiraiya smirked.

"Don't you have anything better to do? Like a mission that you still haven't competed." Tsunade questioned.

"Ah, I suppose so, but right now I have to gather some research on my book. You could always help me, so I can get to the mission sooner," he offered slyly.

"Did you forget the time when you nearly died?" Tsunade threatened.

"Six broken ribs, two broken arms, several ruptured organs, how could I ever forgot?" he added.

"Maybe I should refresh your memory," Tsunade offered, cracking her knuckles.

"Never mind, I best complete the mission," Jiraiya said meekly, disappearing off.

* * *

"May as well rest here for a moment," Sasuke ordered, finally drawing to a halt.

Finally, Hinata thought to herself as she sat down upon the ground.

Sasuke scowled, "We have only just made it to Rice Country, it would be too much trouble to continue to travel in the dark," he complained.

Hinata chose not to response as she began to nibble on her food. After all these years, he is still the same. Still only thinks for gaining power so that he can defeat Uchiha Itachi.

"In the morning, we will begin the search," Sasuke ordered.

Hinata gave a nod.

* * *

Hinata sat upright, blanket falling down around her. Byakugan!

One chakra circularly system was clearly visible in the distance.

She reached over to wake Sasuke, her hand plunging through his shoulder as it sprayed water everywhere. A water clone. He must already know.

Her right hand dropped down to her holster, sliding it open and retrieving her kunai. Moving steadily onto her feet, she began to make her way towards the distant shinobi, also noting another chakra circularly system creeping towards it.

Her pale eyes widened as one of the chakra circularly system disappeared. Her eyes scanned around her, searching but there was nothing.

"Where is he?" she murmured.

"Right here," a deep voice said in reply.

Hinata whirled around, and there was a loud metallic ring as her kunai collided with his. Her arm shook as she attempted to force her kunai forward. If it is strength to strength, I don't stand a chance.

Red eyes glared into her own. "It would be easier for you to just give up now. There is no chance you have to win," Itachi said smoothly.

Hinata's left hand snuck forward, in an open hand strike. Hakke Kusho (Eight Trigrams Empty Palm), she thought to herself as she delivered the strike.

Her hand however, hit the trunk of a tree. Where did he go? she thought, as she searched the area.

A dark shadow dropped in front of her.

Hinata paused mid-strike.

"Where did he go?" Sasuke demanded.

"I don't know, he was here a minute ago," she answered.

Instantly her left hand shot back, as she released several chakra beams towards a nearby tree. The illusion around the tree melted as Uchiha Itachi reappeared again.

"Itachi," Sasuke snarled in anger, shooting forward.

"Little brother," Itachi said in response, easily parrying Sasuke's blow.

Hinata didn't need to be a genius to realize that this fight was not hers.

* * *

It was only now that Hinata realized how truly weak in comparison she was. She had seen more moves in this battle than in any chuunin or jounin exam she was been in. What else was to be expected of two Uchihas who had mastered the Sharingan.

The two brothers had long stopped attempted their Katon (Fire Release) Jutsus.

Sasuke leapt back, throwing a handful of shurikens in Itachi's direction. "Shuriken Kage Bushin no Jutsu," he yelled as several copies of the shurikens appeared.

Itachi disappeared in a whirl of his Akatsuki cloak.

* * *

The cursed seal.

He must really be desperate if he is activating it. Hinata watched in half horror as the dark symbols spreaded over the left of his body, as he tapped into power that was not his.

Itachi smirked, "Orochimaru's tool, are you? Never thought you would sink that low," he mocked, sidestepping a blow as well as sending a blow to Sasuke's back.

Sasuke stumbled forward, leaping away as he formed several hand seals before his right hand gripped his left wrist. " Raikiri (Lightning Blade)," he said, charging forward.

Raikiri... a higher advanced version of the Chidori. But would that be even to defeat missing-nin Uchiha Itachi?

To Hinata's surprise, Itachi also formed the same hand seals. Blue lighting-like chakra crackled around his left hand as he also made his way towards his brother.

"How?" was Sasuke's startled question as the two similar attacks clashed.

"Eight years ago, during the attempted capture of the Kyuubi (demon fox) vessel. You used that jutsu in the attempt to stop me. I had my Sharingan on at the time so I was able to copy it. And now you showed it to me again. The Sharingan is the shortcut to learning techniques," Itachi explained, his free hand quickly moving forward to expel chakra towards Sasuke's chest.

As Sasuke fell backwards, his cursed seal receded back to his shoulder. Itachi glanced at Hinata, "I must thank you for showing me that technique. I was able to copy its effects to a certain extent," he said.

Hinata fell into a fighting stance, her left leg forward, the majority of her weight being placed upon her other leg. Her arms stretched forward, both hands opened in opposite directions. "Hakke," she whispered, lunging forward with a sudden output of speed.

"Two strikes," she called out, spinning to deliver her first strikes upon his chest.

"Four strikes," she pulled back to deliver another few strikes, her fingertips flaring with blue chakra.

"Eight-" she started before she was back handed by Uchiha Itachi.

"Stop, I have no intention to fight with a weakling like you. Or my brother for that matter," he ordered bitterly.

She got to her feet warily, hand dropping down to retrieve the kunai she had discarded before.

"Idiots. Weaklings. The both of you," he said coldly, his hand clenching into a fist to deliver her punch on her solar poleax.

Hinata slumped forward into unconsciousness.

* * *

She was awoken by a harsh nudge in the ribs. Her eyelids fluttered before they fully opened, groggily fixing upon the culprit who awoken her.

What happened? There was a fight... Uchiha Itachi.

Hinata bolted upright, "Where?" she asked, recalling the events.

"Gone," Sasuke said broodingly.

"Oh," was all Hinata was able to voice.

"You fought him." Sasuke stated.

Hinata paused before nodding, "How did you know?" she asked puzzled.

Sasuke's pale hand darted up to his cheek and Hinata copied the movement. After a slight wince, her hand flared as she repaired the damage dealt to her cheek.

"Are you injured?" she hesitantly asked.

"Just drained and the seal," he stated.

Hinata got to her feet, maneuvering herself to stand behind him as she fell back into the ritual of sealing his tenkutsu around the seal. This time, she also formed some seals before her hand hovered above his back,near his chakra heart. Her hand initially flared white before turning to a blue colour as she transferred some of her chakra to him.

He stepped away from her after she was finished before he grabbed his belongings and starting walking off. Hinata hastily did the same, as she half jogged to catch up to him.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't tell the others about the full details about the encounter of missing-nin Uchiha Itachi," he said briefly.

Why? Hinata thought to herself.

* * *

Hinata took a deep breath as she began her sequence of attacks.

"How was the mission?" Sakura questioned.

Hinata shrugged, not breaking a beat from her attempted sixty-four strikes against the training dummy.

"How was it?" Sakura repeated.

Hinata finished off by spinning around to deal the final strikes before stopping. "Fine," she replied, crossing over to where her jacket lay discarded on a post.

After a moment she added in, "It was a waste of time. We found missing-nin Uchiha Itachi, and then we both got knocked out."

"Any injuries sustained?" Sakura asked, worry in her voice.

Hinata didn't have to be a genius to know that a majority of the worry was not for her. Sure Sakura cared but sometimes... love over-ridded her brain and caused a meltdown. "Only superficial ones," she reassured Sakura.

She continued to rummage through the pockets of her jacket before giving her, hand reaching to her medical pouch to take out a healing balm. Twisting open the lid, she quickly applied the balm to her minor injuries before replacing the lid and dropping it back into her pouch.

"I am sorry about before," Sakura said suddenly.

Hinata smiled slightly, "Don't worry about it," she replied.

Sakura gave a worried smile in response; "Um..." she began.

Hinata crossed her arms over her sleeveless black training shirt (A/N: Similar to the one that Hanabi wore to the first chuunin exam) as she glanced over at Sakura, "Don't worry about it," she repeated.

Sakura beamed in response.

* * *

"So which technique do you think is better? Hinata's ultimate defense or Neji's ultimate defense?" Ino asked.

"A random question," Sakura remarked.

"I want an answer," Ino demanded, snapping her fingers.

"Neji's," TenTen replied.

"Why?" Ino asked.

"It is faster, it seems rather effective for knocking any close ranged attacks back. With Hinata's it is a bit more difficult," TenTen replied.

"I'll tell you something," Hinata said softly.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"There is a flaw with Neji's attack," Hinata said slowly.

"What?" both Sakura and TenTen demanded.

"Although his attack is possibly stronger at close distance," Hinata continued.

"What!" the three kunoichi demanded.

"He can't keep his jutsu up for too long. If he keeps spinning for that long..." Hinata said.

"For god's sake girl, tell us!" TenTen demanded.

"He gets dizzy," Hinata finished dramatically.

They promptly fell backwards, anime style.

Hinata giggled, "You weren't expecting that were you?" she asked, as her friends picked themselves up from the floor.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

Hinata batted her eyelashes, painting the very picture of innocence. "You wanted to know," she protested.

Ino glared for a moment before she beamed. "Now if I ever get into a fight with Neji, I have a chance of winning. Just wait until he gets dizzy then strike!" she proclaimed, one fist in the air.

"Imagine what the majority of Konoha and every other hidden village would think. The honorable family of Konoha. The Hyuga. Famous for their juken fighting style, and their bloodline limit... has a flaw. Their Hakkesho Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Heavenly Spin) is imperfect. If kept up for too long... they get DIZZY!" Sakura declared dramatically.

"Who gets dizzy?" Naruto asked quizzically.

The four kunoichi glanced over at him. "What are you doing here?" Ino asked slowly.

Naruto regarded them curiously, "This is the gathering of Rookie-Nine and Team Gai, also known as the twelve gennin to participate in their first chuunin exam together. Is it not?" he questioned.

"Yea, but shouldn't you be hanging about your male friends," Sakura demanded, making gestures to the males.

Naruto shrugged, "Why? When I have some beautiful company here," he attempted to say charmingly.

A split second later, he crashed head first to the ground, a large bump quickly appearing. Sakura leant back, unclenching her fist.

"Was that really necessary?" Hinata asked a faint blush across her face. Sure she didn't have any personal feelings for him anymore but still, flirting with her, even if it was kind of indirectly.

"Naruto, being beaten by a girl..." Sasuke mocked coldly.

Naruto shot up, "Shut up Sasuke-teme," he retorted.

"Hn." Sasuke said in reply.

"Hn." Neji also said. It was his way of drawing attention to himself.

"Oh no! The battle of the Hn's!" Kiba declared loudly.

Shino's gaze moved to Kiba, not that it was obvious due to the fact that his eyes were obscured by his shades. "This is pointless. I am leaving. Ja ne," he said, as he walked off.

Kiba bolted after him, calling back, "I'm off," he also said.

Hinata glanced around before hastily getting to her feet and running after her team mates. "See you later," she called out, before she caught up to Shino and Kiba who were waiting for her. Once she reached them, they both turned and the three of them walked off.

"What great team mates they are! When one leaves, the rest of them follow!" Lee declared, as bucket loads of tears poured down his face.

His own teammates edged away.

"Hey Neji, is it true that you get dizzy if you keep doing Kaiten (Heavenly Spin Technique) for too long?" TenTen murmured as she watched Lee.

Neji frowned slightly, but one glance at Lee who was making another speech about the springtime of youth was even to replace the frown with a look of horror. "Let's test out that theory," he hastily said, as he and TenTen rushed off.

"Ah, they must be testing our friendship!" Rock Lee declared loudly as he ran after them.

"You would think that since they have been team mates for that long that they should be used to his antics" Chouji whispered loudly.

"It is a sight that would scar you for life," Naruto argued.

Team Seven all shared deep nods, all recalling the first time they met Gai-sensei and Rock Lee.

* * *

Flashback:

Maito Gai's hand clenched into a fist as he swung it forward,"You fool!" he yelled as his fist colllided with Lee's left cheek.

Blood flew out of Rock Lee's mouth as he flew several feet away, landing roughly on the ground.

Team Seven watched in clear shock, sweat running down their faces, eyes wide.

Gai crossed over to his student, falling onto one knee, looking down upon his student as he struggled to get up.

"Lee, you are...you are..." he said crossly.

"Sensei," Lee exclaimed, a teary tone in his voice.

A picture of a sunset fell behind them, oblivious of the clock that earler read 2:35 PM.

Tears poured down Gai's face. "Lee," he sobbed.

An equally ridiculous Lee, was also crying as he exclaimed, "Sensei! I...I..."

To make matters even worse, a cheesy tune started to play.

"That's enough, Lee. You don't have to say anymore."

"Sensei!" Lee yelled as the two embraced.

"Lee!"

The tide chose to rose at this moment.

Team Seven watched in utter shock, eyes narrowed in dismay.

* * *

End Flashback:

"We don't have time for a pointless flashback," Ino scolded.

Team Seven remained silent, a look of shock and dismay still settled upon their faze.

"Let's just leave Ino," Chouji offered.

Shikamaru got lazily to his feet and walked off, Ino and Chouji following his lead.

Sasuke broke from his stupor, turning to glance at his teammate. After a poke at Naruto, whom in response tipped over and remained twitching on the ground, he regarded Sakura for a moment before decided it would be better to leave by himself.

A moment later, Sakura awoken from her stupor, "Where did they go?" she asked in bewilderment, before she too left, leaving Naruto alone in the training field.

Naruto sat upright, one hand scratching the back of his head. Shrugging, he got to his feet and made his way back to the streets of Konoha to have a meal of ramen.

* * *

Hinata smoothed her bangs back with a free hand before she returned to healing the patient. "You should be more careful Kurenai-sensei," she ordered.

"I don't need my student to lecture me," Kurenai said sternly, crimson red eyes glaring.

"Well you don't need your student to heal your broken ankle from your mission but I still am," Hinata said in amusement as she finally drew her hand back. "Alright, it should be fine, just don't try to strain it too much, and apply this cream on it," she ordered, reaching into a medical pouch for a jar of cream.

"Thanks Hina-chan," Kurenai thanked as she walked off, slightly favoring her right ankle.

Hinata wiped her hands on her black shirt. "Come in," she softly called, not having to glance over at the door.

As Sasuke stepped into the room, Hinata hastily beckoned to an uncomfortable hospital chair, hastily transferring her jacket from the chair to the table.

"I need you to," Sasuke started.

"Seal your tenkutsu," Hinata finished as she begun the process of closing his tenkutsu.

"I am to be given another mission," Sasuke stated.

"Oh?" Hinata said lightly in response.

"Kazekage-sama of Suna has requested that one shinobi of war, and one kunoichi-medic to be transferred to the Hidden Village of Sand to help train their warriors in both the art of fighting and healing," Sasuke continued on.

"Don't they already have their own shinobis?" Hinata asked, slightly puzzled.

"They tend to be limited to their own attacks, mainly using puppets and fans. In exchange for two ninjas of Konoha, they will send two of their ninjas. It is to strengthen the alliance and also teach the others some jutsus and fighting styles that they don't use," he answered.

"The Kazekage initially requested Naruto to be possibly sent but however he unable to attend the mission since he does not know enough jutsus that should be shared with the Suna ninjas," Sasuke added.

Hinata made a sound of acknowledgement.

"They also require a medic-nin. Shizune is much required in the hospital, as well as helping Hokage-sama. Sakura is an option but..." he paused.

"You need someone who is capable of successfully sealing tenketsu," Hinata finished.

"Yea," he responded.

Hinata bit her lip, "How long is the transfer to last for?" she asked hesitantly.

"A month," Sasuke replied, after an afterthought he added in, "You don't have to give me an answer straight away. Tell me within a week," he finished, departing from the room seeing as Hinata had finished closing his tenkutsu.

I hope Sakura doesn't get annoyed, Hinata thought to herself.

* * *

Her trait of childhood arose as she began to nervously poke her fingers together as she attempted to think of what to say to Sakura.

Um Sakura... I have a mission. Two ninjas are to be transferred to Suna for a month's time. I was asked to go by Uchiha-san who is also going...

No... that didn't sound too right.

Sakura, two ninjas are to be transferred to Suna for a month. A medic-nin and a shinobi of war. I am to be going... I don't know who else is to be transferred.

Now that was lying.

Sakura, your crush from childhood, Uchiha Sasuke and myself are eloping to Suna. So see you in a month's time!

Where did that thought come from? -.-

"Hinata?" Sakura asked.

Hinata broke from her thoughts, "Um Sakura, two ninjas are to be transferred to Suna for a month. A medic-nin and a shinobi of war," Hinata started, decided to start with her second thought.

"You and Sasuke-kun?" Sakura interrupted.

A look of surprise came over Hinata's face. "How did you know?" she questioned.

"I was there when Tsunade gave Sasuke the mission. Initially Tsunade thought it would be best for me to go, but Sasuke mentioned that he would be usually unless the chakra leading to his cursed seal was blocked," Sakura answered.

"Oh."

"Yea, so Tsunade-sama decided it would be more effective for two possessors of Kekkei Genkai (Bloodline Limit) to be sent on the mission," Sakura concluded.

"You a-aren't angry?" Hinata asked timidly.

Sakura frowned, "Yes, but it isn't your fault. And if I went, then Sasuke probably wouldn't have went due to the fact he can't access as much chakra. I would probably end up with some boring shinobi," she finished.

"If y-you wish of it, I will refuse the mission," Hinata offered.

Sakura opened her mouth to speak before clamping it shut. "I want you to refuse the mission but it wouldn't be fair. Just don't make any approaches on my man, and you can go on the mission," she decided.

"Hai," Hinata agreed.

"Swear on our friendship?" Sakura added, sticking out her pinky.

"I swear," Hinata replied, crossing their pinkies to secure their pact.

* * *

"So you are going on a mission for a month?" TenTen asked.

"Yea," Hinata answered.

"With Uchiha Sasuke?" TenTen continued.

"Yea."

"Sakura's love since the academy?"

"Yea."

"A month."

"Yes TenTen."

"Oh god, if anything happens, Sakura is so going to kill you."

"I know."

"But then she would be so whipped by Kiba, Shino, and especially Neji," TenTen added, mentioning all of the brotherly figures to Hinata.

"Speaking of Neji, did you test out my theory?" Hinata asked, changing the subject.

"Oh you mean him getting dizzy with his Kaiten?" TenTen asked excitedly.

"Yea that."

"We tried it,"

"And?"

"After a fair amount of time, I was almost running out of weapons but then Neji collapsed."

"Dizzy?"

"Exactly, his eyes were spirals," TenTen giggled.

"I know."

"When did you find out?"

"I found him on the practice field, in his own little crater, his eyes still spinning around. I pretty much worked out the rest," Hinata answered.

"So anyway, have you told Sasuke about you accepting the mission?" TenTen asked, changing back to the previous subject.

"Not yet," Hinata replied slowly.

"Don't tell me you are already thinking about not going?" TenTen asked.

Hinata shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know... a month, that is a pretty long time. I am not even sure if Otou-san would let me."

"He let you go on the investigation of that missing-nin. That is way more dangerous than this mission," TenTen replied.

"Yea but he has the tendency to be worried about the secrets of the Byakugan being let out," she protested.

"Sucks," TenTen stated.

"Definitely," Hinata responded.

"So when are you going to tell him?" TenTen asked.

"Probably tomorrow, he usually comes in the mornings so I can close his tenkutsu again, but I have to ask father first." Hinata replied.

* * *

"I have a mission," Hinata started.

"You can go. Stay out of everyone else's way and try not to bring any more shame to the family name," Hiashi coldly responded.

"It's for a month... in Suna," Hinata continued.

"Is that all?" Hiashi questioned.

Hinata gave a nod.

"Then go. I have to train Hanabi," he said dismissingly, moving on.

Hinata's mouth turned down as her eyes bored into her father's back.

Doesn't he even care?

Shoulders drooping down, she made her way to the hospital.

Hyuga Hiashi frowned as he continued along.

* * *

"Good morning Uchiha-san," Hinata greeted.

Sasuke gave a nod of acknowledgement.

"With the mission, I am allowed to go," Hinata said.

"Alright. I'll give you the details afterwards then," Sasuke responded.

* * *

Hinata lips moved silently as she read through the letter than the Hokage had given them to inform them about the mission.

"At the request of the Godaime Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara, two ninjas of Konoha are to be transferred to Suna for a period of one month.

It is requested that a shinobi of war, with the skills and techniques of Konoha be sent to teach the shinobis of Sand, a style different to their battle fans and puppets.

It is also requested that a kunoichi-medic be sent along, so that the kunoichis of Sand may learn the basic healing jutsus, as well as the ability to properly treat wounds and create medicine.

The Hidden Village of Sand, in the country of wind, is willing to exchange two of their own Shinobis to teach the ninjas of Konoha of their traits in the battle, of jutsus to use with their battle fans and to teach how to use chakra string to manipulate objects, and puppets.

This is to be classified as an A-ranked mission so caution is expected to be taken. I, the Godaime Hokage, expect you to bring pride to Konoha and remember that any actions you do, will influence what Suna think of the Konoha ninjas.

As a reminder, the alliance with Suna is important and we do not wish for you to do anything that may damage it.

Best of luck with your mission.

Tsunade."

Hinata frowned, 'A-ranked mission so caution is expected to be taken...'

'The alliance is important... does not wish for us to damage it...'

What is Tsunade trying to imply?

It is not as if the alliance village might try to attack us or try to discover the secrets of our bloodline limits. After all, Sabaku no Gaara is a close friend of Naruto-san. I do not expect him to betray us.

Perhaps it is not the Kazekage but the other shinobisof the sand. Tsunade-sama is implyingthat we should be wary, yet not to anything that would threaten the alliance.

If she is so wary, why is she sending two shinobis who have the only Kekkei Genkais of Konoha? The Byakugan and the Sharingan. I don't understand...

I wonder if Uchiha-san detected the hidden warning inside, the implication. I wonder if he understands it more than I do.

Hinata shifted through the other papers, in hopes of finding another hidden implication.

* * *

"You read through the note that Hokage-sama wrote to us?" Sasuke questioned.

Hinata nodded. It was the only paper that implied something, the others were all just about the mission... No hiddden messages, nothing.

"Then you know about the warning," Sasuke continued.

Hinata gave another nod.

"We don't know if anything might happen but we have reasons to believe it might. It isn't everyday that two possessors of two bloodline limits leaves the protection of their village. Don't do anything suspicious. Don't do anything that might break the alliance. The Kazekage and his siblings may be trusted and allbut howeverall important diplomatic choices also depend on the decisions of the council," Sasuke stated.

"Hai," Hinata agreed.

"More importantly, don't get in the way," Sasuke added as he started off.

Hinata took a deep breath and started after him.

* * *

She grimaced as she trudged miserably after Sasuke who paused.

"Hurry up," he shouted over the roar of the winds, partially shielding her from the worse of the sand that was currently flying around everywhere.

She restrained herself from answering, recalling the first time she was unfortunate enough to do so and ended up with a mouthful of sand. Despite how soft the sand felt to her fingers, it was rough and crunchy and hard to get out from her mouth.

His hand enclosed around her exposed upper arm, and he tugged her along.

The two hastily reached the gates of Suna, and after showing their hita-aite and the letter from Tsunade, they were granted passage. Entering the village that was shielded from the worse of the sand by the high walls, they made their way to the Kazekage building.

A moment later they found themselves at audience with the Kazekage.

"I, on behalf on Suna, would like to thank you for accepting this mission and coming to aid Suna," Gaara said in a monotonously voice, from where he was flanked by his siblings.

Sasuke nodded in reply, his dark gaze fixated on Gaara.

No doubt those two have not forgotten their first fight at the Chuunin exams eight years ago. I heard from everyone else that it was a pretty interesting battle that sadly got interrupted. I wonder... what happened...

"Uchiha Sasuke. Hyuga Hinata," Kankuro announced, calling their attention to him.

"We have provided you with lodgings in separate apartment blocks," Temari cut in, reading over her brother's shoulder, and at the profile sheets.

"Ah... thank you very much," Hinata said graciously.

Temari gave a small smile in response.

"We shall give you two days to settle in. After the two days, you should begin teaching," Kankuro continued on.

"Until then," Sabaku no Gaara concluded as he left with Kankuro.

Temari fished out some keys and gave it to the Konoha ninjas.

* * *

"Wait up!" Temari called out.

Hinata, as Temari ran up to them.

"It wouldn't be polite if I didn't show you around," she said as she caught up to them.

Hinata nodded in reply, whilst Sasuke continued walking, his hands shoved in the pockets of his black shorts.

"It gets pretty hot in Suna compared to Konoha," Temari said, glancing over at Hinata who had resorted to tying her jacket around her hips since she entered the Wind Country.

"It is well advised that you bring water along with you, and try to apply sun protection every couple hours. It doesn't take that long to get burnt," Temari continued along.

Temari broke off talking as she entered a shop, exiting as quickly holding several items in her hand. Shoving them to Hinata who hastily took them, Temari continued talking, "That's a canteen of water, and some cream that is effective against the damage the sun may cause."

"Erm, thanks," Hinata awkwardly said, as she attempted to rearrange the items in her arms so that they wouldn't fall.

Sasuke made an annoyed sound as he reached over to grab one of the flasks and a container of the cream. With two of the four objects gone, Hinata tucked the remaining objects under her arm.

"So you are Hyuga Hinata, I've seen you before haven't I? In some of the Chuunin and Jounnin exams," Temari questioned.

"Yea," Hinata agreed.

"So the both of you have a bloodline limit right?" Temari asked.

Sasuke interrupted, "I am sure you already know the answers to that question since it is clearly in the files that you were looking in before."

Temari gave a flustered smile, "Just trying to make a conversation."

Hinata pressed her lips tightly together. Odd... Hmm.. Byakugan!

Her byakugan triggered. Her vision turned to the usual black and white as she focused on the form of Temari. There was the blue chakra circularly system, yet there was also blue chakra around the figure. Henge (Transform).

"You can drop the henge," Hinata stated.

Temari paused, a startled look in her dark blue eyes. "What?" she asked.

"Kai (Release/Cancel/Dispell)," Hinata murmured, hand reaching to touch Temari.

The illusion around Temari wavered, to be replaced with a brown haired female... a kunoichi by her forehead protector with the engraving of Suna upon it.

"What do you want?" Sasuke demanded, stepping in front of impostor.

The fourteen year old kunoichi had the decency to flush before she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Do you think that is Tsunade is talking about?" Hinata questioned.

Sasuke shrugged and leapt up, chakra gathering into the soles of his feet to attach himself to a wall of a building. Hinata, although slightly confused, followed suit.

"Eh?" she questioned.

"Our apartments," was the other's reply, as he reached up onto level ground. After checking his key, he inserted it into the keyhole of a door.

"Um see you later Uchiha-san," Hinata said as she entered her apartment.

It was modest, consisting of a kitchen, with a counter for eating, and a small divider than separated the kitchen/dining from the few chairs placed near the window. There was a small, short hall that leads to the bathroom and the bedroom. After checking the cabinets, she discovered it already had food stocks in there.

* * *

Hinata let out a startled sound as the fell on the sand. Hard too. Before she could even get up, a weight settled on her legs, whilst both of her wrists were seized.

She gritted her teeth and attempted to knock the person off her. Unsuccessful.

Her hand twisted, flaring with chakra as she tried to burn her attacker. Unsuccessful.

This really sucked. She couldn't burn her attacker with chakra because he had a grip on her wrists, she couldn't even break free of that grip. Her hands were too far apart so she couldn't form any seals, not that she knew any jutsus that could get her out of this mess.

She couldn't throw the person off her because her legs were pinned and heck, since when were Hyugas physically strong. The juken(A/N: I realized that it can also be spelt as jyuuken) style does not require strength, just precise strikes. Her Byakugan was activated but not as if that was any help since she couldn't use any jutsus that were solely activated by that.

"I give up," she finally said.

There was a short span of time before the grip on her hand was gone and the weight upon her legs lifted. Uchiha Sasuke glared at her, his sharingan activated.

Chiyute no Jutsu (Healing Hands Technique), she concentrated her chakra into her injuries, her wounds quickly closing up.

"Without the use of your hands, you are pathetic," he stated.

Hinata remained silent. Damn, he is just like my father. I don't need another person telling me how weak and pathetic I am... a shame to the Hyuga family. It's not my fault I am not suitable for fighting, some people are born with the blood strong in the veins, I am not. You are so slack to me Otou-san, you never see how capable I am with healing... Wait... I am getting carried away again. But still. Why couldn't I just have a normal childhood. No attempted kidnapping, no death of my uncle, no cousin who initially hated me, no father who keeps criticizing me...

"Are you even listening to me?" Sasuke demanded.

Hinata broke out of her daze, "Pardon?" she asked, a flush rising to her cheeks.

"What types of jutsus do you know?" Sasuke repeated.

"Um, all of the techniques that run in my family..." she started.

"Then why didn't you expel chakra from all your chakra points? That should have been enough to knock me away," he demanded.

Hinata sat upright, her face shadowed by her hair. "I didn't think of that," she admitted.

Sasuke let out an angry sound as he paced back and forth, "What other techniques do you know?" he asked.

"Healing techniques... the basic techniques at academy... not much else," she said softly.

"Right, then none of those techniques would help you much in battle, any techniques that can cause damage?" he sighed.

"Satsugaite no Jutsu... it is basically the opposite of Chiyute no Jutsu (Healing Hands Technique)... killing chakra. Um Shosen Jutsu (Mystic Palm Technique)... Ranshinso (Important Body Points Disturbance)," she listed.

"Don't you have superhuman strength?" he questioned.

Hinata shook her head, "Only Tsunade-sama and Sakura-san has that."

After a moment he spoke up again, "I may as well attempt to teach you some basic elemental jutsus?"

"Doton (Earth). Katon (Fire). Mokudon (Wood). Suiton (Water)." Hinata murmured.

"I'll probably try Katon techniques, seeing as the Sharingan supposedly evolved from the Byakugan, and since the Uchiha have no trouble using Katon techniques, the Hyuga may be the same. I mean your clan symbol is the flame, whilst mine is the fan that controls the flame," he said.

"Um okay," she agreed.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu, that is the first Katon ninjutsus that all Uchiha learn... However it takes a fair amount of chakra," he said.

His hands moved into a blur as he formed six hand seals before his hands moved to his mouth. A moment later a large ball of flame shot up, heating up the air even more.

"The seals to release it are like I just showed you. You concentrate your chakra then stop it at your chest and finally you release it all at once.

Serpent.

Ram.

Monkey.

Boar.

Horse.

Tiger.

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!

She blew out through her hand, a stream of flame gathering to form an orb of flame, nowhere as large as Sasuke's.

"Maybe elemental jutsus are right for me?" she offered weakly.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Using only the techniques of the Hyuga would be pointless if one knows your strategy. Anyway you should know some techniques that don't require direct, or close contact... Just continue to practice that jutsu in your spare time," he concluded.

* * *

"I recognize you," she said suspiciously.

The brown haired kunouchi blinked her hazel eyes innocently. "Oh?"

"You were the one who used that henge the other day, I recognize your chakra signature," Hinata continued.

The kunoichi gave a sheepish grin, "Yea... um I'm Talina," she offered.

"I guess there is no reason for me to introduce myself," Hinata said dryly.

Talina flushed slightly, "Sorry about the other day, my friends dared me to," she explained.

"So you wish to be a medic-nin," Hinata asked, turning professional.

"Yea... it might come in handy since I am pathetic with battle fans and puppets." she went on.

"Oh! I remember you... You were the sand-nin who used doton (earth) techniques," Hinata exclaimed.

Talina gave a nod. "So you are a medic-nin?" Talina questioned.

Hinata raised her eyebrows, "No," she slowly replied.

"Oh." Talina said.

Is she really this oblivious?

"Yea, I am a medic-nin, if I wasn't there would be no need for me here," she added.

"Oh," Talina repeated.

Hinata felt relieved when another batch of kunoichis entered.

"Um..." she faltered slightly as all their attention was turned to her.

"I am Hyuga Hinata, a medic-nin from Konoha. I am here to teach you the basics of a being a medic-nin," she explained.

She was greeted by several mutters.

"Um, with healing, it basically requires using chakra to speed up the regeneration rate of cells," Hinata started, "The basic technique for injuries is Healing Hands Technique, which concentrates the chakra to the palm of your hand creating a small orb of healing chakra. That chakra, when concentrated can repair physical damage dealt." Hinata explained.

Hinata reached into her weapons pouch to draw out a senbon, slashing it horizontally across her palm, she lifted up her hand to show her class of the injury. In her uninjured hand, she concentrated her chakra and held it over the injury, closing up the wound.

"I suppose you better try that now but... if you can don't injure yourself to attempt that jutsu. Try to heal a bruise or a small cut. However if you are unscathed, make a small cut on your palm," she ordered. "Um any questions, and you can ask me. Remember, gather your chakra to your hand to create a small green orb of healing chakra. Not all of you should be able to use that jutsu so don't worry if you can't. I'll teach about ointments some other time," Hinata added.

* * *

"How was the lesson?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata blocked a strike, her hand moving from below only to be intercepted. "Only one person was able to mildly grasp the process of partially speeding up the regeneration of the cells. All the others just ended up with extra injuries," Hinata answered.

A moment later Hinata found herself knocked onto the ground, her arm being twisted behind her back whilst a hand pressed down on her shoulder to keep her down. "The shinobis I am teaching don't seem to be grasping the Konoha-style taijutsu that well," he answered.

Hinata released chakra from her tenketsu knowing Sasuke away. She propelled away, hands blurring as she hastily made her own seals as her Byakugan caught the seals that Sasuke made. Serpent. Ram. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger. His trademark move.

She finished her own series of hand seals, as she raised her chakra.

The ball of fire shot towards her, singing the ground around her. When it cleared, Hinata was gone.

"Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu (Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique)," Hinata murmured as she shot up after her hand closed around Sasuke's ankle.

A moment later she had a kunai pressed to her neck whilst her Byakugan was focused on the real Sasuke, instead of the log that was mostly buried in the dirt.

"Nice try, but Kakashi-sensei did that technique to me on the second day I met him," Sasuke hissed.

Hinata disappeared in a cloud of smoke, reappearing a further distance away from him. She gave a shrug, "I tried."

"Where did you learn that?" Sasuke asked.

"The most advanced kunoichi-medic-in-training. She's rather talented with Doton (Earth Release) techniques, she was willing to spare time to teach me that one technique," Hinata answered.

"Oh," he agreed.

"Your students any good at pure taijutsu?" Hinata questioned as she fell into a fighting stance.

"They seemed a bit too dependent on their battle fans and puppets. They are alright with Taijutsu, but no where as good as Rock Lee, Gai, or myself," he said smugly, exchanging several blows with her.

"At least Taijutsu can be improved over time. Some of the kunoichis might not succeed with being a medical ninja. Perhaps they will be better with ointments," she mentioned.

"You know, you aren't as shy as I thought you would be," he remarked.

"Eh?" Hinata asked.

"When I knew you, back at the academy, as well as the gennin days, you were shy. Soft spoken, and you kept blushing," he answered.

"Time passed. People adapt." Hinata shrugged.

"Indeed." he agreed.

* * *

"I think I got the hand of the healing hands technique, well on small injuries anyway," Talina exclaimed.

She is only fourteen yet she seems rather skillful at healing. More than me. Possibly she could be at Sakura's level in several years time. Hinata smiled, "Great, that technique can basically heal most physical injuries, but the more severe the injury, the more chakra and precision needs to be used."

"Want to go training? I'll teach you some more jutsus?" Talina offered.

Hinata considered the option before nodding. "If it doesn't trouble you."

* * *

"Doton: Doroku Gaeshi" Talina cried out, as she dug into the ground beneath her to tear up a solid wall of dirt and rock. "Alright, this shield of earth has to be held together by the chakra and is meant to take the driving force of a physical attack, do you want to try?"

Hinata started forming the hand seals for it, before she was interrupted.

"Hyuga Hinata?" a shinobi questioned, dropping onto the ground.

Talina started in surprise whilst Hinata merely paused during a seal. She had seen the shinobi coming from the distant for a while now. "Yes?" she questioned.

"I have heard about you, a member of the Hyuga Main House, as that is obvious by your unmarked forehead," he announced, as he travel in a circular path.

As Hinata remained silent, he continued along, "A possessor of the Byakugan," he added.

Byakugan... is that what he is after?

"What do you want?" Hinata asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" he smirked, coming forward to attack her.

"You can't do this, this is treason, she is of the alliance," Talina protested, as she started forming hand seals.

Hinata flung out a hand to stop her, "This is my battle. It would be safer for you to stay out of it," Hinata ordered.

"You must really want to lose then," mocked the shinobi.

Hinata blinked, "Not really," she said truthfully.

He bit his finger, before wiping it on a scroll, leaving a trail of blood. There was a puff of smoke as he summoned a marionette.

Hinata looked unimpressed as she fell into her typical stance. A marionette... I never really fought against one of these. From what I have viewed, there are many traps. I best be careful.

Her hand formed a single seal, as her byakugan triggered. "Are you ready?" Hinata questioned, beckoning with her hand.

The marionette flew towards her, guided by chakra strings. As it drew towards her, its mouth opened as it shot out needles. Kaiten!

She released chakra from all her tenkutsu, successfully stopping the attack. A smile crossed her face as she spun around knocking the marionette back. This will be an easy battle...

Without even turning, she threw several senbons behind her, which the shinobi dodged. Trying to sneak up on a byakugan... does he even know that I have almost 360-degree vision?

She had not much time to ponder at the thought when both the marionette and its wielder attacked.

She knocked the marionette back, whirling back to the wielder, her hands forming a seal. Before she could finish her jutsu, a wall of earth rose to stop the shinobi. Talina dropped beside Hinata, seizing her arm and drawing her away.

"I would advise you not to fight. This shinobi could easily accuse you of provoking and attack him first, and that could easily threaten the alliance and Suna could call treason against Konoha," Talina said.

Hinata made a move to protest but realized that the earth wielder was right. "Very well," she agreed, grimacing as she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Hinata frowned. Should I have told him?

"What?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

Hinata stepped back, not out of fear but because she felt her space was being invaded, "I got attacked," Hinata said meekly.

His gaze searched her for a moment before he looked away, "You didn't do any damage to him did you?" he asked.

He isn't concerned about my well being. He is more worried about the alliance... Why should I be startled, mission always comes first. Hinata shook her head, "None. I am aware of the fragility of the alliance."

"Where were you attacked?" Sasuke questioned.

"Um a training ground," Hinata said softly.

He scowled, "Why were you even there?"

"Learning new techniques... you were the one that recommended that I learn some elemental jutsus," Hinata answered.

"So you weren't alone."

"I was with a friend."

"Can your friend be trusted?"

"Don't worry about the attack. I am pretty sure I know what is behind it.

"Be careful," Sasuke concluded, his gaze adverted from her.

Hinata rose to her feet. "Of course Uchiha-san."

* * *

"Um Hina-sensei," Talina called out.

Hinata glanced up at Talina.

"Are you alright, from yesterday?" she asked.

"No damage was sustained."

"Oh good," Talina let out a relieved breath.

Hinata narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "I must congratulate you." she said lightly.

"Why?" Talina asked guiltily.

"I didn't think a chuunin of your level would be able to create an earth clone that is able to speak. Not to mention you used a henge with it. I suppose I would also have to take in consideration of the other earth clone you used, for the marionette. Oh yes. The needles themselves were pretty fancy. Made out of earth but again you used some kind of genjutsu on it."

Talina began to stammer.

"Oh, it was all wasted since my Byakugan was able to see the chakra that connected you to the earth clones," Hinata finished.

"I... I..."

"Still you being able to use all those jutsus at once, you should be a jounin at your level, rather than a medical ninja," Hinata added.

"Please don't tell Kazekage-sama or anyone else," Talina begged.

Hinata raised her eyebrows, "Why would I do that?"

"Thanks," Talina made a move to sit down.

Hinata raised her hand to stop her, "What do you think you are doing?" she asked softly.

"The lesson..." Talina replied rather puzzled.

"Oh I thought I said you would be better suited to be a jounin rather than a medical ninja," Hinata said.

"What?"

"Aren't I explaining myself properly?" Hinata asked puzzled.

After a moment of silence she continued on.

"Let me make this simple. I. Am. Not. Teaching. You... Is that simply enough?" Hinata asked sweetly.

"You can't do this," Talina protested angrily.

Hinata crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh. I just did," she pointed out.

"You don't understand-" Talina started.

"Oh I understand perfectly. I tolerated the first joke you attempted to play by pretending to be Temari. However I don't see what you did the other day as a joke. Anyway, I am rather busy so could you please leave?" Hinata finished politely.

* * *

"Don't you have to teach today?" Sasuke asked.

Hinata shook her head, "I get two days off, don't you?" she asked.

"Yea... just not... today."

"Oh right."

"Do you plan on doing anything today?"

"Not really."

"Want to help me attempt to teach the shinobis?" he asked hopefully.

"Um... I don't mind."

"Good, I can't tolerate them anymore. I got this really clumsy one, we were practicing on the training dummies, and I found him knocked out on the ground."

Hinata narrowed her eyes. "Knocked out by a training dummy... that can't even respond to your attacks..." she said slowly.

"It swung back and knocked him out."

"I see."

* * *

She perched on a low branch, swinging her feet aimlessly as she partially listened to Sasuke drone on about what they were meant to do.

"Hinata!" he called out sharply.

She hastily regained her balance, and by the time she had done so, all the shinobis were looking at her direction. "Um yes?" she asked nervously.

"Come down for starters," he said exasperated.

Hinata leapt down, landing on the sand as she crossed over to Sasuke.

"The style of Taijutsu we use is Tekken (Iron Fist), it requires physical strength to inflict outer damage, breaking bones, bruising muscles or just breaking the skin. Basically everyone shinobi should be able to use that style... Hinata however used a different style. Juken (Gentle Fist), her attacks are softer, more open palm, and cause damage by flowing chakra into the opponent's inner coil system of chakra veins and tenketsu," he finished.

"So which one is more effective?" a shinobi called out.

"With Juken, even if the attack doesn't directly hit you, it still will cause damage. It doesn't feel like much to begin with, but afterwards it takes it toll, however Juken requires accuracy, which only one with extreme knowledge of where the tenkutsu can use. Or you can just have a byakugan," Sasuke answered.

One of the shinobis let out a whistle, "Wanna spar, sweetheart?" he flirted.

Hinata flushed, shrinking back slightly as she fought the urge to run away.

"Are you up for it Hinata-san?" Sasuke asked, glancing at her as a positively dark aura rose around him.

She hunched her shoulders. The way he asks, sounds more like a demand.

"Ah hai," Hinata hastily agreed, letting out the breath she was holding as his darkness faded.

* * *

Why do I always end up in situations that I hate. I swear the world is out to get me.

She fell into her fighting stance, her hands held out in front of her, mostly opened palmed.

"Start." Sasuke declared.

As her opponent rushed forward, Hinata sidestepped the blow, one hand sneaking in from under his outstretched arm towards his chest. His other hand blocked the attack before he leapt back.

"You missed, sweetheart."

Her eye twitched at the nickname. He is so dead...

Her hand reached into her back pocket before she whipped her hand forward, sending senbons in the direction of the shinobi.

He intercepted the projectiles with his kunai, before his eyes widened in shock as his kunai broke apart in neat slices.

The senbons served merely as a distraction whilst I launched beams of chakra from my hand. That was what sliced your kunai up like a laser. ... Byakugan!

He took out a scroll, setting it on the ground as he made a seal to summon his marionette. A moment later the puppet flew towards her, teeth chattering in an annoying matter.

She flung several kunais into the marionette. The exploding tags on the kunais triggered, so that a cloud of dust covered the area.

As the dust faded, the shinobi was nowhere to be seen but his marionette had sustained enough damage that it wouldn't be of much use.

He reappeared behind Hinata, his kunai raised to strike. Hinata however remained still, showing no sign of fleeing.

"A bushin?" he questioned, moving to stab Hinata.

Before the kunai even reached her, pure chakra halted the attack. "Divine spin," Hinata said smugly, as she spun around, unleashing chakra from all her tenkutsu.

Before the shinobi could even recover from his attack, Hinata dealt an open handed strike to his solar plexus. "Juken," she muttered.

The shinobi stumbled back, moving to attack before he winced, one hand resting above the injury that Hinata just dealt.

"Don't tell me you are injured from that petite attack?" his friends taunted.

He straightened up proudly, "As if that weak attack could injure me."

Damn it. Is he that dumb? Wasn't he listening to what Uchiha-san said earlier about my style of fighting. Hinata sweat dropped.

"Why don't you give up sweetheart, you aren't going to last if you use such weak strikes," he misinterpreted her bewilderment for fear.

That is it. I am not going to go soft on him from now. Stupid idiotic person.

She dropped into a low stance. "You are in my field of divination," she declared dramatically, as the scene switched to black, with Hinata standing on a green ying-yang symbol in the center, whilst the shinobi stood on the further symbols.

Sasuke made a highly amused sound, switching the scene back to the normal one. Hinata glared at him. He ruined the whole atmosphere.

"Stop squinting at me and get back to the fight," Sasuke ordered.

Squinting? Oh c'mon I have the byakugan activated and everything, yet he thinks my glare is a squint. I have seriously lost all respect here. If he were fighting me, he would be dead regardless of whom he is and the fact that Sakura would kill me if I did any damage to him.

"Hakke," Hinata declared, a small smile at her face as the shinobi blinked.

The moment he opened his eyes again, she was in front of him. She struck at him heavily. "Two strikes!"

Without giving him time to respond, she continued along with the attack.

"Four strikes!"

"Eight strikes!"

"Sixteen strikes!"

Her agility increased as she reached the harder part of the technique. "Thirty-two strikes!"

"Sixty-four strikes!" she declared, as she delivered an open handed blow, knocking the shinobi back and onto the ground.

She watched as the shinobi attempted to get on his feet. Fail at that attempt. Watched him form a hand seal to mould chakra. Failed at that too.

"How?" he questioned.

Hinata merely batted her eyes before flouncing over to the other shinobis.

"So very professional," Sasuke said dryly.

Hinata paused and glared. "Stop ruining my fun," she scowled.

"As you might have saw earlier, when he got struck in the stomach once, he was actually badly hurt despite the fact that the blow appeared to be soft. That is because Hinata releases chakra from her hand, and since she has her byakugan, she can see where his chakra circularly system is and target it. And possibly target his internal organs which is rather risky." Sasuke explained.

"Wouldn't like to be her opponent." one commented

If you think that is bad, wait till you see me angry. Or better yet, why don't you see my own clan fight?

"What did you do at the end? The strikes?" 'Flirts' asked.

"I sealed sixty-four of your three hundred and sixty-one chakra points," Hinata explained.

"You can see those?" he asked incredulously.

Hinata shrugged.

"Well anyway, none of you would be able to use that technique to its full extent, the damage you would be able to do with that is minimal since you don't have the Byakugan," Sasuke finished.

"So that demonstration was pointless?" the shinobis asked.

"And I wasted my effort?" Hinata demanded.

Sasuke nodded. "Well not entirely pointless. If you ever enter the chuunin, or jounin exam and you are faced against a Hyuga. Best quit."

"Are there even any Hyugas that are entering the exams?" a shinobi asked.

"My sister," Hinata replied.

"Damn, we are going to be whipped by girls," 'Flirts' sighed.

"We? No. You? Yes. And you already have your ass kicked by that petite little girl," his friend mocked.

"Also, if you plan to invade Konoha, chances are highly unlikely since you would probably end up facing the Hyuga clan. And all of them know how to fight, and most can do the higher techniques that Hinata-san knows," Sasuke added.

The shinobis sweat dropped.

"Oh yea, you can't invade Konoha because of the alliance... but if the alliance breaks or something..." Sasuke continued.

"Stop. Just stop," Hinata said softly.

Sasuke looked startled as he glanced towards her direction.

"Right, so um... lunch break. You go train, eat or do whatever you Suna people do," he said, walking off.

Hinata followed after him. "So my purpose here today was to buy time?" Hinata demanded.

"I wouldn't put it in those words," Sasuke disagreed.

"Forget it. Why do I even bother talking to you?"

"You were the one that accepted the mission."

"That is because I am getting twice the amount of pay that I usually get normally," Hinata responded.

"Twice? I only get 1.5 times more pay. You get twice as much."

"Take heed of the fact that I willingly agreed to go on a mission with you?"

"What is wrong with me?"

"Um... nothing... just not many ninjas would tolerate you, and well... be with you for a mission that lasts for a month," Hinata said innocently.

* * *

"So tell me... how did I get dragged into this?" Sasuke demanded.

"Don't be a spoil sport. Our month's time here is near its end. 'Tis sweet of them to throw a party," Hinata scolded.

"Yet why am I here?"

"You are one of the guests of honor. It would be pointless if you weren't there. Since it is a party to say farewell to us," Hinata sighed, resisting the urge to slap her forehead with her hand.

"I think it is stupid."

"Other people don't."

"I don't care." Sasuke made a move to turn back.

Hinata seized him by the arm and dragged him forward. "We already came here. We already got dressed. I sure as hell am not cooking tonight so we are going," she hissed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"I saw that."

"Obviously."

* * *

"Funny, I thought you wanted to go to the party," Sasuke smirked.

"Not so loud," Hinata murmured, one hand against her forehead.

"What's the matter?" he asked, moving to stand beside her.

"I got a headache. I think someone mixed alcohol into the drinks. Everyone is too loud, not to mention they can't walk in a straight line and insist on walking clumsily around taking no heed of anyone else. All of these factors have led to a killer of a headache," she complained.

His palm settled against her forehead for a moment before he pulled away.

"I have a headache not a fever," Hinata protested.

"Why don't you heal it?" Sasuke asked.

"Did I mention I seem to have trouble controlling my chakra?"

"Alcohol."

"You think?"

"You don't seem drunk."

"I hold my liquor well, unlike my cousin," her lips twitched slightly.

"Oh? Is this a story?"

"He doesn't like me telling... but it's a good story. Whilst Rock Lee is great at fighting whilst he is drunk. My cousin is not."

"How so?"

"For starters he can't control his Byakugan properly. So it tends to switch on and off pretty easily. Because of that, he just can't fight cause he can't target the tenkutsu properly," Hinata answered.

"Interesting..."

* * *

Hinata stumbled slightly. "Why did I let you convince me to take another drink?" Hinata demanded, cheeks slightly flushed.

"I thought you said you hold your liquor well?" Sasuke teased, appearing to not be under the effects of alcohol as he steadied Hinata.

"I said I hold it better than my cousin. You don't see my byakugan activating and deactivating do you now?" Hinata replied before her tripped.

Sasuke gave a sigh as she caught her, setting her back onto her feet.

"Why doesn't the alcohol affect you?" Hinata complained.

"I'm special."

"Special my-"

"It is not appropriate for one to use such language," he chided.

She opened her mouth to make a remark before her knees buckled as she fell into unconsciousness.

"Hold your liquor well? As if," he scoffed as he slung her over his shoulders.

* * *

She was vaguely aware of coming back into consciousness as she was dumped, not so gently onto her bed.

After a moment of consideration, Sasuke draped her blanket over Hinata.

There was silence and Hinata considered it safe to open her eyes.

Her eyes fluttered open as she caught the image of Sasuke's face horribly close to her own. A feather light touch brushed against her lips before it was gone, along with Sasuke.

What the hell was that about?

* * *

"Ready for the journey back?" he asked politely, eyes adverted from hers.

She gave a nod.

As they reached the walls of Suna, the Kazekage and his siblings halted them.

"We would like to thank you for accepting this mission," Temari started.

"Safe journey," Gaara said politely.

* * *

She walked behind him, a frown marring her face as they reached the Konoha gates. He seems colder... we have barely spoke on the journey back... Heck I am too embarrassed to even speak to him after the incident... I wonder if he is aware that I know...

"Hinata!" a familiar voice called.

"TenTen." Hinata replied, making her way towards the weapons master.

"I'll catch up with you later eh? The Godaime wishes to meet with you two," TenTen said, as she dashed off.

* * *

"Finally the four of us back together again," Ino announced loudly.

"Anything interesting happen whilst I was gone?" Hinata asked.

"Not really. Just the usual." TenTen answered.

"Tsunade-sama is still beating Jiraiya up..." Sakura mentioned.

"Did anything happen at Suna?" Ino asked in response.

"Nothing interesting. I just taught some of the kunoichis medical ninjutsu. There was this one kunoichi, seemed rather fond of pulling tricks so I stopped teaching her. Apart from that... nothing interesting happened," Hinata lied.

"Hm," TenTen frowned.

"I wonder how Sasuke is?" Sakura wondered aloud.

Ino let out an exasperated sigh. "So Hina-chan, did anything happen between you and Sasuke?" she teased.

Sakura looked positively livid, whilst TenTen turned her attention to Hinata.

Hinata shook her head, "We didn't really converse much during the time at Suna. My days off were different from his, and most of the time we were training our own students," Hinata answered as truthfully as she could.

* * *

"Where are you going Hinata-sama?" Neji asked.

"The hospital," Hinata answered.

"To let you know, Uchiha won't be coming in any more to get his tenkutsu sealed by you. Now a days I've been sparring with him, so he asked if I could instead," Neji said.

"He's avoiding me," Hinata stated. I barely even saw him since we returned to Konoha.

Neji gave an apologetic smile, "That's males for you," he said knowingly.

Hinata looked at him quizzically.

"Ask TenTen, she might know the answer since she has been in a similar situation," he smirked.

* * *

"TenTen?" Hinata questioned.

"Yea?" TenTen responded.

"Apparently Neji avoided you at one stage..."

"Oh you mean when he wouldn't even show up to training..."

"And you kept coming over to the compound so Neji activate his Byakugan every minute or so..."

"Yea... then you would answer the door and say that he wasn't there..."

"That is because he would flee whenever you even came into a certain radius of the compound..."

"Yea that..."

"Why did he avoid you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Neji said something about males being like that, and he refused to tell me anything else, instead he just told me to ask you."

"Who is avoiding you?"

"No one?" Hinata offered meekly.

"Let me see. All the males around our age. Neji... no since he was speaking to you.

"Don't worry about it TenTen!"

"Lee, no I remember his speaking to you whilst Neji was about to come out."

"Ten-"

"Kiba and Shino, you have been training with them in your spare time,"

"Chouji. He was with Ino, and he spoke with you for a bit..."

"Shikamaru. Same as Chouji..."

"Naruto, no it can't be him... I recall him hanging around you whilst Sakura was still at the hospital...But if it isn't him... or the others, who else can it be..."

"Don't worry about it," Hinata hastily said.

TenTen looked puzzled before a look of shock came over her face. "Sasuke?" she demanded.

Hinata frowned. I am so dead.

* * *

Why? Why her?

I can have any female I want... Yet for some unknown reason, I took a fancy to her. She is rather blind for one who has the Byakugan.

She doesn't notice me as anything more than a friend. I know that she regained consciousness when I set her down on her bed in Suna. I know that she was aware that I... kissed her.

If it was any other female they would have responded, and that they could have confronted me as soon as they could. They wouldn't have just froze, remained in fear to speak to me. Not even confronting me about it.

Any other female would be more than happy to be in her position, but she seems that she would be more than happy to exchange positions with them.

Why though?

Does she love someone else?

Naruto... no she told me that she no longer has feelings for that dobe; I saw the truth in her eyes. Who else is she close to? Kiba... Shino, they are brotherly figures to her.

I can't believe this. The infamous Uchiha Sasuke, is afraid of being confronted with the supposed weakest of the Hyugas.

Maybe I never should have rushed things. Maybe I should have kept our relationship a platonic one. It is too late for that.

Still I find myself asking. Why am I even feeling these emotions after all these years? I found it bothersome that kunoichis kept taking an interest in me. I wish that they would all just see as a normal shinobi.

And now when I realized that the person I like is the only one who ever saw me as a normal person.

I never used to take notice of her... that was until we finally spoke properly that I noticed her. Funny, I never realized but before I barely exchanged words with her.

In the academy we rarely got seated next to each other and when we did, I would ignore her and she would be polite enough to not bother me.

When we were gennins we never spoke either, I being in my own team, and her being in another. With the first Chuunin exam, she was kind enough to not bother me, instead shielding behind boisterous Kiba.

With the prelim round, I was unconscious after the first battle so I never saw her fight. Heck I barely noticed her back then.

I only noticed her when she came to check up on me at the hospital. When I actually spoke to her I realized that she was special.

That she was different. She didn't hold anything against me because I betrayed Konoha, she saw me as a patient. She didn't see me as all other girls do. She didn't fawn over me; she treated me like an equal. I welcomed that.

I was harsh to her, yet she remained polite and she held nothing against me. No matter how much I tried to reject the feeling, it wouldn't leave. Even after that incident, I ignored her and she went back to respecting my wishes and remained silent, probably too embarrassed to talk.

But her cousin told me that she was worried about me since I never came in to get my tenkutsu sealed. Damn, you could be as spiteful as you could to that girl but she wouldn't hold anything against you. That is why I am avoiding her because I can't speak to her. I am afraid of what to say.

I am afraid that she will reject my feelings and return my heart in shattered pieces.

So here I am thinking that if I avoid her, my feelings will fade away. That my emotions will die once again. But I don't want that to happen.

Why am I lying to myself?

Why do I even have these feelings? Why now?

I don't understand.

* * *

"I don't understand TenTen, why would it matter who is avoiding me?" Hinata pondered.

"First, let me tell you the reason why Neji tried so hard to avoid me at an earlier stage," TenTen offered instead.

Hinata scowled, "That was what I wanted you to do in the first place," she muttered loudly.

TenTen shot a look at Hinata that called for silence. "Neji as you know, has a rather hard time embracing his emotions," she began dramatically.

As she made to continue, she paused looking suspiciously at Hinata. "What are you doing?"

Hinata blinked twice and stood up from where she had originally sat crossed legged, in anticipation for the story. "Nothing," she said sheepishly.

"Basically when he kissed me for the first time, he pretended it never happened the next day, and then afterwards he kept avoiding me," TenTen finished.

"Great story," Hinata commented sarcastically.

"Anyway I believe that most stoic males, once they show certain emotions. They reach a full denial state where they believe that they cannot have such emotions since it will slow them down. Also they are confused and afraid of rejection. Thus they avoid the reason of their emotions," TenTen summed up.

"That makes... no sense." Hinata said slowly.

"That's males for you..." TenTen remarked.

After a pause TenTen asked softly. "Do you care about him in ways more than just a friend?"

"I don't know," Hinata said truthfully.

"Is it because of Sakura?" TenTen questioned

Hinata bit her lip, "Sakura is my friend, and I should be loyal to her."

"You should be loyal your own feelings."

"I don't know my feelings..."

"Relationships are special. It isn't everyday you find a soul kindred to yours."

"Kindred?"

"There are usually three reasons why males fall in love with a female. One it could be that they are beautiful. Two they are rich. Three their personalities are similar. I don't think Sasuke in interested in you for those reasons. Sasuke is the sole heir to the Uchiha fortune; he has no need for money. Also almost every Konoha females has taken an interest in him, and some females, we just can't compete with them in beauty. I don't think your personalities are that similar either. I mean you are gentle-natured and friendly, he is the opposite."

"Then why is he interested in me? You said there are three reasons and I don't fit into any of them," Hinata said softly.

"Those are the usual reasons. But for some people, their souls have similar qualities. No matter how different their personality may be, their soul is similar and that is what makes their friendship or relationship strong, because deeper down, not much separates them. Those people are known as the ones with Kindred Souls," TenTen stated.

"I-"

"Some friendships come and go. True relationships don't. Some friendships aren't meant to be, especially if it favors one person in particular. Sakura can't always get what she wants. If she is truly a friend she will respect your wishes,"

"I don't even know what my wishes are!"

"Forget about Sakura, she hasn't been the greatest friend to you when it comes to Sasuke, so she shouldn't care about what she thinks. Stop being so selfless Hinata. Just for once think about what you want. Think about your feelings. Stop hiding them from yourself because you felt obliged to."

* * *

Hinata glanced over at Sakura. I never questioned our friendship, even if we did have petite fights. We always settled it afterwards... now I am forced between several options. If I pick one of them our friendship might be gone for good. I don't want that yet what TenTen said has led me thinking.

But the question is... what are my wishes? What are my feelings? How do I see Sasuke-san... as a friend or more?

If I saw him as just a friend, I wouldn't be worried like this. I would just reject his feelings... but I am not doing so. Does that mean...? I am so confused.

"Are you alright Hinata?" Sakura asked.

Hinata broke from her trail of thoughts and looked embarrassed. "What makes you say that?" she asked nervously.

"You have been different ever since you came back to Konoha." Sakura remarked knowingly.

"Is that so?" Hinata said softly.

Sakura didn't hear her remark.

After a moment Sakura straightened, "I haven't even see Sasuke-kun lately. Have you seen him? I know that he comes in every couple of days to get his tenkutsu sealed, have you seen him?" she asked.

Hinata shook her head. "Neji-niisan told me that he is sealing Uchiha-san's tenkutsu since they both train with each other. I haven't seen him either."

"Oh, all right then," Sakura said lightly.

Hinata gave sidelong look towards Sakura. The way that her eyes lit up significantly when she heard that I haven't see him either means she is obviously happy...

Is she really such a good friend? I mean with our friendship, Sasuke-san always come first for her even though he has barely spoken to Sakura-san...

Wait... a familiar chakra signature. Byakugan! There I see him... coming to the hospital. What is he doing here?

"Excuse me for a moment," Hinata said as made her way to the window and leapt down, landing easily on the ground.

Her cousin raised his eyebrows. "Wouldn't the stairs be more appropriate, rather than leaping from the second floor window?"

"Neji-niisan, what are you doing here?" she asked, observing him. "You aren't injured," she accused.

"TenTen spoke to me the other day," her cousin started.

"Oh," she said softly.

"Have you made a choice yet?" he said solemnly.

Hinata shook her head.

"He might see you in a couple days. I am to have a mission soon so I can't seal his tenkutsu. I am sure that none of the other Hyugas would help him, thanks to their pride and your little sister's influence on them," Neji said.

"Thank you nii-san," Hinata said.

* * *

Neji-niisan was right... as usual...

"Um..." Hinata murmured.

Sasuke looked at her, his dark eyes steely. "What do you want Hyuga?" he asked coldly.

"That night at Suna, I was awake when y-you-" she broke off as he cut in.

"I am aware of that." he cut in.

"Then why did you pretend that nothing happened?" Hinata demanded.

"Why shouldn't I? We both know it wouldn't work. It is obvious that you felt obliged to remain loyal to Sakura because you know of her feelings for me," he said bitterly.

"Some friendships come and go," Hinata murmured.

"How do you tell the difference between true and false friendships?" Sasuke asked softly.

"You can't really. You just have to trust what you believe is correct," Hinata answered.

"What is what you believe is wrong?"

"The only way to find out is to give it a try..."

"And lose friendships on the way?"

"I already lost one friendship...ours."

"What is it doesn't work?"

"Then it doesn't. The only way to learn is from making mistakes."

"You should speak to Sakura before you make your choice."

"If I speak to her, it means I already made mine," Hinata said.

"Speak to her first. If you still wish to try out this relationship, meet me at the Uchiha compound, then we will go to have dinner tomorrow" Sasuke said before departing.

* * *

"Sa...kura," Hinata started,

"Hm?" she asked.

"Sasuke-san and I are to have dinner tomorrow," Hinata said as boldly as she could.

"Oh? Is it something formal to do with your clans?" Sakura asked slowly.

"No." Hinata stated.

There was silence.

"Why?" Sakura asked, her face veiled by her hair. "You knew that I liked him-" she got cut off.

"You knew that Ino liked him when she was younger. That didn't stop you from ending your friendship with her so you could also pursue after Sasuke-san," Hinata said.

"So you are doing the same? I thought you were a true friend Hinata. I thought I could trust you-" she broke off.

"I am not doing the same. I have no intentions of cutting of our friendship unless it is by your choice. And Sakura... I used to think that you were a true friend but with you. But Sasuke is your first priority."

"You bitch..." Sakura started coldly.

"Look, I can be around Sasuke with or without your friendship." Hinata said firmly.

"Then be without it!" Sakura snapped, her voice raising an octave higher.

"So be it," Hinata said regretfully as she disappeared after forming a hand seal.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun?"

"What is it?"

"Why her? All this time I chased after you yet you pick her. She never liked you as much as I did."

"She never saw me the same way everyone else did. She didn't see me as the Uchiha prodigy. She never saw me as the No. 1 Rookie. She just saw me as another shinobi. She accepted me as just another shinobi."

"I gave everything up for you. I ended my friendship with Ino because she competed against me for you-"

"Ino only competed against you because you betrayed her."

"She was my only friend in the academy and since I ended my friendship with her, I... spent all my time trying to become the best kunoichi yet you never noticed me. Many of shinobis fancied after me but I never accepted them because I was waiting for you."

"Rock Lee and Uzumaki Naruto. Both of them sacrificed their life for you but you barely acknowledged their existence. They were a burden to you."

"But Sasuke-"

"I never asked you to give up friendships, chances with relationships. I never asked anyone to do so,"

"What about Hinata?"

"Did she end the friendship with you? Or was that your doing?"

"I had to end it. She told me that she was dating you. She knew how much I loved you yet she still back-stabbed me..."

"Go away Sakura."

"But Sasuke-Kun! Why do you even care about that weakling? Her byakugan is weak. She-"

"Her byakugan sees allot more than any of the others. She sees that instead of solely using her byakugan so that she can become a strong kunoichi, she also uses it for being a medical-nin. She sees me as a normal shinobi. She sees allot more than you think."

"Go away Sakura. You are annoying." Sasuke finished, turning away.

* * *

"Hey?" Hinata greeted hesitantly.

"I take it you spoke to Sakura and she didn't take it all so well," he said sardonically.

Hinata looked towards his direction. I don't think he is just making a guess. He is implying something... "How did you find out?" she finally questioned.

"She approached me," was his answer.

"Oh," she murmured.

"I'm surprised you actually made that choice," he said truthfully.

"Was it the right one?" Hinata asked.

"I don't know."

"None of us do."

"Well let's go to dinner then," he finished, standing up.

"Alright then. Let's go." Hinata agreed, walking by his side.

I wonder if this is the right decision? It sure seems like it. I don't know if this will work out but there is only one way to find out. To live through it... to have no regrets despite the outcomes.

There are still many problems. Like the cursed seal. The lost friendship between Sakura and I.

But we are still young. We still have our hopes. We still have time. I know that problems can be worked out in the future.

I might have lost a friend but I gained something else in exchange. Equivalent exchange I suppose.

* * *

"Ramen?" Hinata asked incredulously.

He blinked at her, "What's wrong with that?"

Hinata gave him a look. -.-

"Sasuke-teme! Hina-chan!" a familiar voice called out.

"Oh. That," Sasuke realized.

"Hello Naruto-san," Hinata greeted politely, after a pause her eyes drifting to Naruto's left. "Kakashi-sensei," she added.

"Yo," he gave a wave, his right gazing lazily at them.

"KAKASHI, MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Maito Gai yelled as he came running by.

A moment later his team arrived.

"Sasuke-san. Hinata-san," Rock Lee greeted politely before he turned to watch his sensei attempt to engage in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors with Kakashi.

"Hey Hina," TenTen greeted cheerfully, as she exchanged a knowing look with Neji.

"Hinata-sama," Neji said politely. "Uchiha-san," he added, a positively evil aura rising around him.

It was joined by another two dark auras. "Shino-kun. Kiba-kun," Hinata greeted her teammates, after a bark she also added. "Akamaru. Where's K-,... oh hello Kurenai-sensei."

"What are you all doing here?" Sasuke asked as calmly as he could.

"Oh, well I came because I wanted ramen, then I decided to drag Kaka-sensei along, you know I always wanted to see beneath his mask." Naruto began.

Kakashi made no move to explain as his continued reading his book.

"I CAME because I spotted Kakashi trying to hide behind his book," Gai announced.

"We were training with Gai-sensei so we came over," TenTen explained.

"I didn't come because of Gai-sensei," Neji said evilly.

"We sensed Neji's overprotective-brotherly-evil aura, so we had to come," Kiba announced, before Team Asuma turned up.

"Since all of you were here, Ino assumed it was some kind of Rookie-Nine plus Team Gai gathering," Chouji announced.

"Where is forehead girl?" Ino announced.

There was a pause.

TenTen nudged Ino in the ribs and her eyes moved shiftily towards Hinata and Sasuke and back.

"What's with your eyes?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru sighed and openly pointed towards Hinata and Sasuke.

"Oh I see," Ino declared knowingly.

"I don't get - BAH!" Naruto started before he was knocked to the ground by the person closest to him... that being Neji.

Neji straightened, regaining his composure. "How thick can you get?" he murmured.

"Neji," Rock Lee said disapprovingly.

"Would you rather have me vent my anger on any of you instead?" Neji asked, the twitching off his eye becoming more noticeable.

There were several mutters of no.

"Oh!" Naruto cried as a light bulb lit up above his head.

"Sorry," Ayame apologized, flicking the switch so the light died out again. (Daughter of the old man who owns Ichiraku I think...).

"You two are on a date!" Naruto said accusingly, his finger pointing towards Sasuke and Hinata.

Hinata flushed whilst the twitching of Neji increased.

"Hina-chan, I thought you would have better taste than... AHH!" Naruto was knocked to the ground, this time courtesy of Sasuke.

His eyes remained closed in frustration as he withdrew his fist.

"You are on a date?" Lee asked incredulously.

THUD. A kunai imbedded itself into the wall right above Lee's head, his eyes moved upright.

"Nice aim," Chouji mentioned.

"What are you talking about? I missed," TenTen questioned.

There was another thud. This time, it being Lee who fainted.

Sasuke's eyebrows knitted together. "Can you just stop interrupting our date?" he demanded angrily.

There was a moment of silence and when he opened his eyes again, they were all gone.

"Now you know why I didn't want to go eat Ramen," Hinata sighed.

The End

_

* * *

_

**A/N: This was written when I was thirteen.**

**2005-12-04 - Kindred Soul published.  
2005-12-28 - Kindred Soul completed.**  
**2011-02-13 - Slight update to replace line breaks. Story was kept in a single chapter for convenience of editing. This story is still drowning in typos and spelling mistakes and shall forever be.  
**

**-Demeterr**


End file.
